Egypt foreign debts up 16 pct to 55.8 bln USD

Egypt's foreign debts rose by 16 percent at the end of the 2015/2016 fiscal year to reach 55.8 billion U.S. dollars compared to 48.1 billion dollars a year earlier, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a report on Wednesday.

The CBE said that the increase in foreign debts was a result of surging net use of foreign debts and facilities and dollar price hike in the Egyptian exchange market.

Egypt has recently seen a sharp decline in its main foreign currency resources including tourism, which led to a large hike in dollar price and a wide gap between its official and black market exchange rates, affecting many import-based businesses.

The CBE report added that the country's total domestic debt rose to 294.8 billion dollars by the end of the fiscal year, noting the government's share of the debt increased by 46.66 billion dollars to reach 257.4 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, Egypt's budget deficit has exceeded 35 billion dollars, which led the country to resort to a 12-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), of which an initial agreement has been reached in August.

However, Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil said Sunday that Egypt's exports increased by 1 billion dollars and imports decreased by 7 billion dollars since the beginning of the year, which reduced the country's budget deficit by 8 billion dollars. Endit