Egypt Daily News – The World Bank said that Egypt must fulfill external obligations estimated at $43.2 billion during the first nine months of this year, distributed between $5.9 billion in interest and $37.3 billion in principal loans.
Egypt’s Debts in 2025
The World Bank explained that these obligations are distributed among several main parties, as the Egyptian government bears the equivalent of 10.4 billion dollars, while the Central Bank of Egypt bears about 21.2 billion dollars, and as for commercial banks, their responsibility amounts to 8.1 billion dollars, while the other sectors bear about $3.5 billion, during the period from January to September 2025.
These obligations include loans worth $17.1 billion, deposits and currency swap agreements worth $20.5 billion owed to the central bank. In addition, there are deposits and currencies worth $272 million owed to banks, along with $3.1 billion in debt securities, and about $2.1 billion dollars as part of commercial facilities.
Short term deposits
It is worth noting that the Arab countries that provided short-term deposits worth $11.7 billion pledged to extend them until the end of the International Monetary Fund program with Egypt, or to convert them into investments. These obligations also include medium-term deposits worth $9.3 billion.
The volume of external obligations during the year
The size of external obligations varies during the year. It reaches $23.2 billion in the first quarter, then drops to $11.1 billion in the second quarter, and about $9 billion in the third quarter.
Egypt’s debt repayment performance during 2024
Data indicate that Egypt paid $17.8 billion in the last quarter of 2024, including $6 billion to the government, $2 billion to the Central Bank, $5.2 billion to banks, and $4.5 billion to other sectors.
During the entire year 2024, the total repayment value amounted to about $38 billion, according to statements by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly in a recent press conference.
The government’s vision to reduce debt
The Minister of Finance, Ahmed Kojak, confirmed that the government is working according to a comprehensive strategy aimed at reducing debt rates, inflation, and external debt, pointing to the efforts made to get rid of the “black cloud” that hides the development achievements achieved by Egypt.
Increase foreign exchange reserves
He explained that using the proceeds of the “Ras al-Hikma deal” efficiently contributed to increasing foreign exchange reserves, reducing the debt of budget agencies to 89% of the gross domestic product, and reducing the size of external debt by about 3 billion dollars.
Despite the efforts made, external debt witnessed an increase during the third quarter of this year by about $2.3 billion, reaching $155.3 billion at the end of September, compared to $152.9 billion at the end of last June.
