By Abdel Qader Ramadan
Domestic public debt rose approximately EGP 56bn during the first quarter of 2014, reaching EGP 1.7tn by the end of March in comparison with EGP 1.65tn at the end of December 2013.
According to the report issued by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on Monday, preliminary indicators for the size of domestic public debt show it has reached 83.3% of GDP compared to 80.6% in December last year.
The report also indicated that the balance of external debt rose by 5.8%, reaching approximately $45.8bn at the end of December of 2013 compared to $43.3bn at the end of June 2013.
The CBE attributed the rise to the increased use of loans, deposits and facilities, as the balance of debt rose by approximately $437.9m as a result of higher exchange rates for most currencies being borrowed against the US dollar.
The report revealed a slight decrease in the burden of external service debt of $13.8m, bringing it to $1.6bn in the first half of the 2013-2014 fiscal year.
