(AFP PHOTO/STR)
The volume of domestic and foreign debt has reached EGP 1.7tn, presidential candidate Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said Tuesday during a TV interview, adding that this debt “should not be inherited by future generations”.
Egypt’s external foreign debt increased to $47bn at the end of September 2013, compared to $43.2bn at the end of June. According to the Central Bank of Egypt, the $3.6bn increase was driven by “net disbursements of foreign loans, facilities and deposits in the amount of $3.3bn.”
“In order to solve this issue [of debts] do we need to walk, run or jump?” the former Minister of Defence asked. He stressed that debt issues should be solved with speed.
“I will not sleep and neither will you [the Egyptians citizens],” Al-Sisi said.
Cairo University economic professor and expert Alia El-Mahdy said that although she hopes the plan is accomplished quickly, she expressed her doubt regarding that possibility.
“It is not easily accomplished,” El-Mahdy said, adding that the sources through which debt problems will be solved have not been identified.
Discussing the financing of these projects, Al-Sisi said that aside from “stimulating the working capabilities of Egyptians, Arab and foreign funding will be used to finance these projects”. He added that investors should be provided with a “real investment climate”.
The presidential candidate added that around EGP 1tn is needed to solve the debt crisis the country is facing.
El-Mahdy said that this figure is equivalent of some $136bn; therefore, the country would need $36bn each year to solve its debt problem. She added that the “question here is how Egypt will get these investments”.
“The amount of investments that will reach Egypt from Arab, foreign investors along with the Egyptians living abroad was not specified,” El-Mahdy said.
