Egypt's external debt rose to $96.6bn by the end of December 2018, compared to $82.88bn by the end of December 2017, an increase of $13.7bn, according to Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on Wednesday. The CBE added that long-term external debt recorded $86.3bn by the end of December 2018, an increase of $1.4bn from December 2017, indicating that the long-term debt ratio was 89.3% of Egypt's total external debt. Furthermore, short-term debt stood at $10.34bn by the end of December 2018, compared to $11.13bn by the end of December 2017. The CBE pointed out that the government's outstanding external debt rose by 24.18% to reach $48.07bn by the end of December 2018, compared to $38.7bn in December 2017, an increase of $9.4bn. “The government's external indebtedness is distributed over $13.97bn in bonds and $34.1bn in loans from local and international agencies,” the CBE elaborated, adding, “The outstanding external debt rose to $28.27bn by the end of December 2018, compared to $27.4bn in December 2017, of which $25.15bn is long-term external debt.” The CBE's debt is divided into $6.5bn in loans, $17.4bn in deposits and currencies, and 1.249bn is special drawing rights.
