Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly held a meeting on Sunday with the Minister of Planning Hala El Said and the Economic Ministerial Committee to follow up procedures of debt-to-asset swap between government agencies and the National Investment Bank (NIB).
El Said noted that Egyptian National Railways’ debt to NIB of about EGP 15.7bn was settled by swapping assets in the authority, in accordance with the directives of the prime minister.
She pointed out that her ministry is working to complete these procedures with other concerned parties.
Mahmoud Montasser, deputy chairperson and managing director of the NIB, pointed out that there are some government entities that repay their debts to NIB regularly, while others are in negotiation with the bank to settle their debts.
He pointed out that some state-run entities have settled their debts by swapping lands, assets, or shares in public companies in accordance with the prime minister’s decision in this regard.
Madbouly said that he would issue a decree listing the lands belonging to some of creditors to be swapped with their debts to the NIB., while a committee from the bank would appraise those lands.
The prime minister assigned the concerned parties to conduct land inventory in all governorates to achieve optimal exploitation of these lands.
The Ministry of finance has issued a report last year stating that the government’s debt to the NIB hiked to about EGP 538.82bn at the end of December 2018, compared to EGP 483.3bn in September 2018.
