Data from the Egyptian Ministry of Finance revealed that Egypt’s expenses on debt interest rose during the first half of the current fiscal year by 28.7 per cent on an annual basis. A report by the Egyptian Finance Ministry on the budget performance clarified that about EGP 267 billion ($17.2 billion) and EGP 190 million ($12.2 million) were spent on debt interest during the period of July to the end of December against EGP 207 billion ($13.3 billion) and EGP 470 million ($30.2 million) during the same period last fiscal year.

Egypt aims at repaying interest and debts estimated at EGP 971 billion ($62.4 billion) during the current fiscal year distributed by EGP 596 billion ($38.3 billion) of interest and about EGP 375 billion ($24.1 billion) for installments. Egypt’s domestic public debt fell to EGP 4.18 trillion ($268.7 billion) by the end of last September, representing 66.8 per cent of the gross domestic product, compared to EGP 4.28 trillion ($275.1 billion) by the end of last June. Egypt’s external debt stock rose by the end of last September to $109.3 billion, including $98.3 billion on long-term and $11.03 billion on short-term, against $108.6 billion by the end of last June.