On Tuesday, the World Bank released its International Debt Statistics 2022 report.

The report indicated that debt service payments had become the greatest threat to borrowing countries after the annual debt service cost of the poorest countries in the world rose to $62 billion. The report attributed the high cost to high-interest rates and the slow pace of global growth. According to the Central Bank of Egypt, the total burden of servicing Egypt’s external debt in 2022 amounted to about $26.3 billion, compared to $15.9 billion in 2021.

The World Bank stated that debt service payments burden the general budget of countries by robbing the funds and resources allocated to the health, education and social assistance sectors, suggesting that debt services will continue to rise during the next two years. It is expected that Egypt will pay debt instalments and debt interest of approximately $50 billion next year.