Egypt’s debt hits 3.7 trillion pounds in 2017: minister

Egypt’s Minister of Finance Amr El-Garhy said on Tuesday that the country’s internal and external debt totalled 3.7 trillion Egyptian pounds in 2017.

In an interview with TV programme “Akher al-Nahar,” Garhy noted that the Egyptian pound’s exchange rate is linked to exports and improving the Egyptian economy’s performance.

Garhy stressed that fixing the Egyptian pound against foreign currencies may have a negative effect on the volume of Egypt’s foreign reserves.

Egypt embarked on a large-scale IMF-sponsored economic reform programme last year. A key demand by the international lender was that the country would devalue its currency, which it did in November last year, resulting in the pound losing half of its value, leading to soaring inflation. Source: al-Masry al-Youm