Egypt’s outstanding arrears to foreign oil companies rose to $3.2 billion at the end of March from $3 billion at the end of December, an official at the ministry of petroleum told Reuters on Wednesday. The ministry had said last September that Egypt aimed to reduce the arrears owed to foreign oil companies to $2.5 billion by the end of 2015 and to pay them off completely by the end of 2016. Egypt has run short of hard currency since a 2011 uprising drove tourists and investors away. Reserves almost halved to $16.4 billion by the end of November.
