Egypt Daily News – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has issued a decision to allocate a plot of land measuring 174 million square meters of state-owned private land in the Red Sea Governorate to the Ministry of Finance.
According to the decision published in the official gazette on Tuesday, the land will be used to reduce the country’s public debt and to issue sovereign sukuk (Islamic financial certificates).
Egypt’s external debt decreased by 111 million US dollars in the fourth quarter of 2024, reaching 155.09 billion dollars by the end of the year, according to government data reviewed by Al Arabiya Business. Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly had previously stated that the country has a framework for limiting external borrowing, and that bond issuances are aimed at extending the debt maturity.
He added that these measures have brought the external debt-to-GDP ratio back to safe levels, with a target to reduce debt by 1.5 to 2 billion dollars annually.
Last year, Egypt finalized a deal with the United Arab Emirates under which it sold 170 million square meters in the Ras El Hekma area on the North Coast for 24 billion dollars. As part of the agreement, 11 billion dollars of Emirati debt owed by Egypt were converted into local investments.
Egypt is seeking to convert Gulf countries’ deposits at the Central Bank of Egypt into investments as part of its strategy to reduce external debt.
