Egypt's external debt declined to reach $39.9bn by the end of March marking a 13.5% decrease, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced Monday. March's figures compare to June 2014, when debt amounted to $46.1bn. The decrease was the result of repaying facilities and loans causing debt to fall by $3.5bn. The fall back of the value of "most currencies of borrowing versus the US dollar" has also caused the debt balance to drop by approximately $2.7bn, the CBE noted. Egypt repaid $3bn to Qatar based on a formal request by Doha to repay $7.5bn in grants and deposits, provided to Egypt during the year former president Mohamed Morsi, was in power. Furthermore, Egypt also has other debts, including the Paris Club debt, of which $681m was repaid in January 2015, with the CBE expected to repay another instalment this month. Moreover $6bn in Gulf deposits from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE were received by the CBE in April 2015, leading foreign reserves to reach $20.5bn by the end of April. Minister of Finance Hany Kadry Dimian had previously said the government aims to decrease the budget deficit to 10% of GDP in the fiscal year (FY) 2014/2015, which ends in 30 June 2015.
