Egypt's public debt expected to fall to 86.2% of GDP in June 2020

CAIRO – 29 July 2020: Egyptian Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it said that the financial control measures and real growth rates contributed to the continuation of the downward trend in debt rates as a percentage of gross domestic products (GDP).

The Minister of Finance added that the ratio of public debt is expected to decline to 86.2% of GDP in June 2020, compared to 90.4% of GDP in June 2019, 108% of GDP in June 2017 and 95.1% in June 2014.

This came during a cabinet meeting, which was held Wednesday, chaired by Mustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, through video conference technology, in which the Minister of Finance gave a presentation on preliminary estimates of financial performance for the fiscal year 2019-2020.

“Egypt is one of the very limited countries that was able to reduce the debt ratio to the GDP during the 2019/2020, an achievement that reflects the effort made during the relevant year and previous years, and also reflects the Egyptian government's success in dealing with the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic in a balanced way,” Ma’it noted.

He pointed out that the preliminary data indicate a primary surplus of 1.8 percent of GDP compared to a target of 2 percent of GDP, according to the original budget estimates, which is a very good result under the difficult and exceptional economic conditions associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

Finance Minister confirmed that Egypt has maintained the estimates and rankings of all international rating institutions, despite the difficult circumstances that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic, which affected most of the countries of the world.