Egypt’s foreign debt drops $7.4bn in first quarter

Egypt’s foreign debt fell by $7.4bn in the first three months of 2024, according to Central Bank of Egypt data released on Tuesday.

The country’s finances were boosted in late February when it sold the development rights to prime Mediterranean land at Ras El-Hekma to the UAE for $35bn.

The total foreign debt declined to $160.6bn by the end of March, from $168.0bn at the end of December to $164.5bn at the end of September, according to the central bank data.

Egypt has quadrupled its external debt since 2015 to help finance new capital, build infrastructure, buy weapons, and support an overvalued currency.

In March, it signed a $8bn financial support package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which it committed to a free-floating currency. The IMF disbursed an initial $820m in March, the rest of which will be drawn in semi-annual instalments until September 2026.

The foreign debt, of which 84.2 per cent is long-term, was equivalent to 39.8 per cent of gross domestic product, down from 43 per cent in December, the central bank said.

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