Egypt pays Paris Club's debt installment this week

CAIRO – 9 January 2018: Egypt repaid $700 million to Paris Club this week as part of its debt to the financial institution, which currently totals to $3 billion, a source in the Central Bank of Egypt told Egypt Today Tuesday.

The repayment is a part of a bi-annual installment owed to the group, usually paid in January and July.

Egypt will pay $13 billion in debts over 2018, while attempting to keep the foreign reserves at the level of $36 billion.

Egypt's international reserves hit an unprecedented level in December as it recorded $37.019 billion, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced Wednesday.

Foreign reserves in the CBE have been rising since the Egyptian government clinched a $12 billion three-year loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November 2016, restoring confidence in the Egyptian market.

Reserves were only $19.041 billion at the end of October 2016, just before Egypt floated its local currency in November, which was a milestone in the IMF-backed economic reform program that also included loosening capital controls, hiking taxes and slashing subsidies.