Egypt central bank governor says foreign debt not worrying

Egypt’s central bank governor said on Friday the country was not worried about its levels of foreign debt.

Egypt is managing policies that regulate the borrowing process in a precise manner for the coming five years, Tarek Amer said on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank annual spring meetings in Washington.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said earlier this month Egypt’s total public debt is projected to continue to shrink to about 74 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2022/2023 given the implementation of the economic reform programme.

The figure is expected to be driven by the recovery of tourism, construction, expansion in the gas extractives and investment sectors and proceeding with the implementation of strong structural reforms.

In its documents released on Saturday on the fourth review of Egypt’s Extended Fund Facility arrangement, the IMF said that the country’s economic growth is still expected to reach 6 percent in the medium term.