Egypt repaid a total of US$30 billion during the 2017 , distributed across due bonds and foreign debt to international banks, the country's finance ministry announced on Sunday. Egypt met and repaid $30 billion, from the Central Bank of Egypt, for due bonds, foreign debt to international banks, such as the African Export-Import Bank, deposits and loans from many countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Libya and Turkey. The figures were published in the March edition of the ministry's monthly financial bulletin. The country also paid outstanding obligations to government entities like the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and to the Paris Club, an informal group of official creditors who provide debt treatment to countries undertaking economic reforms. The issued monthly bulletin did not provide detailed information about the amount paid to the lenders. The CBE said in January 2018 that it paid back around $700 million in debt to the Paris Club, like the payment of the same amount in July 2017. MENA has reported that Egypt is set to pay back over $12 billion in 2018. The government's external debt stood at US$ 38.7 billion as of the end of December 2017, 16 percent of the GDP, up from the figure at the end of June 2017, when external debt was US$ 34.9 billion, or 18.1 percent of the GDP, at end of June 2017. The debt increased due to an increase in loans to US$ 29.8 million as of the end of December 2017, compared to US$ 25.9 billion at end of June 2017. The country's total government debt, both domestic and external, has increased to LE 3676 billion, 105.9 percent of GDP, at end of March 2017, according to statistics published by both the CBE and the finance ministry. Egypt's net foreign reserves rose to $44.14 billion at the end of May from $44.030 billion at the end of April, according to the CBE earlier in June. Egypt's foreign reserves have been climbing since it secured a $12 billion, three-year International Monetary Fund loan programme in 2016 as part of efforts to woo foreign investors and revive its ailing economy. Source: Ahram Online
