The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has announced that the country's foreign debt increased to about $125.3bn in September 2020. The figure reflects a 1.5% hike, equivalent to about $1.8bn, compared to June 2020. In its monthly report issued on Tuesday, the CBE said that this increase came as a result of an increase in the net disbursements of loans and facilities by about $400m. It was also driven by the approximately $1.4bn increase in the exchange rates of most of the borrowed currencies against the US dollar. The CBE said Egypt's foreign debt service amounted to about $4.9bn during the period extending from July to September of fiscal year (FY) 2020/21. Of this amount, $3.7bn is paid in instalments, while paid interest reached about $1.2bn. Indicators show a decline in the ratio of the foreign debt stock to the gross domestic product to 33.9%, according to the CBE, which stressed that it is within safe limits according to international standards. In another context, the CBE said that net foreign assets increased by 103.1%, the equivalent of nearly EGP 125.9bn, during the period from July to October 2020. As a result of the significant increase, it reached about EGP 247.998bn. CBE explained that this increase came as a result of an increase in the net foreign assets of CBE, nearly equal to EGP 43bn, and net foreign assets in banks estimated at EGP 82.9bn. The CBE said that the volume of credit facilities granted by banks operating in the local market to their customers reached about EGP 2.411trn by the end of October 2020. It pointed out that the volume of these facilities increased by EGP 210.7bn between July to October 2020, reflecting a growth rate of 9.6%. According to the CBE, the credit facilities granted by banks to non-government entities increased by EGP 109.8bn or 7.2%. The volume of facilities granted to the government increased by EGP 100.9bn, at a rate of 15%. Credit facilities refer to the loans granted by banks to their clients, in addition to documentary credits and letters of guarantee opened for them to cover import operations. The CBE explained that the private business sector obtained about 59.2% of the total non-governmental credit facilities granted by banks to various economic sectors. It pointed out that the industrial sector topped the sectors financed by banks, as it alone received about 31.5% of the total facilities, followed by the services sector, which acquired 24.6%, and the trade sector with 10.9%. The agricultural sector continued its trend of obtaining the lowest percentage of credit facilities granted by banks to the various economic sectors. It acquired only 1.9% of the volume of these facilities until the end of September 2020. According to the CBE, there are other sectors, not mentioned in detail, most prominent of which is the family sector, which received about 31.1% of the volume of these facilities. The CBE indicated that total deposits in the banking sector stood at about EGP 5.088trn by the end of October 2020, compared to EGP 5.052trn by the end of September 2020. It pointed out that the total financial position of banks increased to EGP 6.982trn by the end of October 2020, compared to about EGP 6.889trn by the end of September 2020.
