Egypt repaid last Thursday US $ 700 million of its foreign debt dues to the Paris Club, the country's central bank governor announced on Monday. Governor Hisham Ramez, who has been in post for a year, stated that Egypt pays an installment of its foreign debts every six months. The top official further said Egypt will repay another US $ 700 billion to the Paris Club next July in accordance with a convention signed with the economic club years ago. Egypt is also due to repay US $ 2.5 billion to Qatar, he added. Therefore, Egypt's foreign debt dues for Qatar and the Paris Club total around US $ 3.9 billion within the current year. Ramez told Egyptian daily Al-Youm Al-Sabea thatSuch dues do not place a heavy burden on Egypt's cash foreign reserves. The position of Egypt's external debt and foreign currency reserves are "not alarming" said the governor of Egypt's central bank, but need to grow by an unlikely 6 to 7 percent for unemployment to be remedied. The country's external debt climbed to $46.6 billion as of the end of October 2013, which represents 15% of Gross Domestic Product, one of the lowest such ratios in the world, said the governor.
