Egypt’s Foreign Debt Rises to $92b

Egypt’s foreign debt rose to $92.64 billion at the close of the financial year in June, up from $88.2 billion at end-March, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told the Egyptian daily al-Watan, Reuters reported. The debt made up 37.2% of the country’s GDP at the end of the 2017-2018 fiscal year, Madbouly told the newspaper in an interview published on Sunday, marking a slight increase from 36.8% at the end of the third quarter. Egypt’s fiscal year begins in July and ends in June. The country’s foreign reserves stood at $44.2 billion at the end of June, and climbed to $44.4 billion by end-August. Egypt reported its highest economic growth in a decade in July, at 5.3% for the 2017-2018 fiscal year compared to 4.2% the previous year. The government aims to hit 7% growth by 2022, an aspiration bolstered by the International Monetary Fund’s forecast of 6% growth in the near-term—the highest in North Africa—and a reduction in inflation and unemployment of 7% by 2022.