Domestic debt jumps over LE500B by March: CBE

CAIRO – 8 June 2017: Egypt’s domestic public debt reached LE 3.07 trillion ($169 billion) in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said Thursday.

With approximately 19 percent year-on-year increase, the domestic public debt in the same period in FY2015/16 recorded LE 2.49 billion, LE 580 billion less than the current level.

In statements to state-news agency MENA, the CBE detailed that 86.2 percent of the current debt is owed by the government, 7.9 percent by the National Investment Bank (NIB) and 5.9 percent by economic authorities.

The domestic debt owed by the government recorded LE 2.65 trillion in the first nine months of FY2016/17, with LE 368.7 billion more than the same period in the previous fiscal year.

Marking LE 180.6 billion increase, the debt owed by economic bodies registered LE 76.9 billion, while the NIB debts reached LE 244.3 billion.

Deputy Finance Minister Ahmed Kojak also said Thursday Egypt attracted $8.4 billion of foreign investment in domestic debt instruments since the flotation of the pound in November.

Egypt’s general government debt is projected to surge to 100.4 percent by the end of fiscal year 2016/17 (to end June 30) up from 97.4 percent a year earlier, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in April.