Egypt’s foreign debt seen a rise of 15% during 2020, CBE

Egypt’s foreign debt amounted rose by $ 16.525 billion, representing 15 percent in 2020, compared to 2019, according to data issued by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

CBE said that Egypt’s foreign debt registered $129.195 billion at the end of 2020, compared to $112.67 billion at the end of December 2019.

It added that Egypt’s long-term foreign debt rose by $ 15.851 billion during 2020, to $ 117.237 billion, compared to $ 101.386 billion in December 2019.

Egypt’s short-term foreign debt rose by $ 674 million, to reach $ 11.958 billion last December, compared to $ 11.284 billion in December of the previous year.

The long-term external debt represents 90.7 percent of Egypt’s total external debt, while the short-term debt ratio is 9.26 percent.

The CBE stated that the government’s external debt rose during 2020 by $ 15.784 billion, to record $77.205 billion at the end of last December, compared to $61.421 billion at the end of 2019.

It pointed out that the long-term government external debt rose to $ 75.205 billion compared to $ 61.421 billion at the end of 2019, and the short-term government external debt rose to $ 2 billion in December 2020 from zero.

The data revealed that the central bank’s external debt decreased by $1.849 billion in 2020, to record $26.002 billion, compared to $27.851 billion at the end of 2019.

The share of the external government debt to the total external debt is 59.7 percent.