World Bank: Egypt external debt rises to $106 billion as of end March

Egypt’s external debt rose to $106.2 billion at the end of March from $96.6 billion at the end of 2018, according to the World Bank’s latest data.

External debt jumped 20.9 percent year-on-year from $88.2 billion in March 2018.

Debt of central and local government accelerated to $53.8 billion at the end of March from $48.07 billion at the end of 2018.

The data also showed that debt of local banks rose to $10.09 billion from $7.69 billion; while other sectors stood at $13.7 billion versus $12.5 billion.

Foreign currency-debt of the country’s central bank slightly rose to $28.5 billion compared to $28.3 billion.

Short-term debt increased to $12.4 billion from $10.34 billion in December, the data added.

Egypt received earlier this month the final $2 billion tranche of the International Monetary Fund’s $12 billion, three-year loan programme, which was signed in late 2016.