Egypt's external debt grew by 11.2 percent during the first nine months of 2020 to post $125.3 billion by the end of September, up from $112.6 billion in December 2019, the new data released by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) showed. Meanwhile, Egypt's long-term external debt rose to $113 billion in the same period, up from $101.3 in December 2019, according to the CBE. The long-term external debt represented about 90.2 percent of Egypt's total external debt by the end of September. Likewise, Egypt's short-term external debt jumped by 9.8 percent to reach $12.3 billion in the same period, up from $11.2 by the end of December 2019. The CBE also unveiled that the government's external debt increased by the end of September 2020 to reach $73.1 billion, up from $61.4 billion in December 2019, while the CBE's external debt declined to $25.9 billion, down from $27.8 billion in the same period. It also expounded that Egypt has repaid around $15.15 billion in external debt services during the first nine months of 2020, including $11.9 billion in instalments and $3.2 billion in interests. The CBE said that external debt services doubled during the third quarter of FY2019/2020, reaching $6.8 billion, including $5.6 billion in instalments and $1.1 billion in interests. It also said that external debt services recorded $3.4 billion in the second quarter of FY2019/20 and $4.8 billion in the first quarter. For the bank's external debts, the CBE said that they have witnessed a growth of 35.1 percent in the same period to reach $11.8 billion in September 2020, up from $8.7 billion in December 2019. On the other hand, external debts of other sectors contracted by 1.3 percent to post $14.4 billion by the end of September 2020, down from $14.6 billion in December 2019.
