ZCZC
BCN-40
EGYPT-DEBT-GDP
Egypt aims to reduce public debt to 70 pct of GDP in 4 years: minister
CAIRO, Sept. 27, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – Egypt aims to reduce the public debt
to 70 percent of the GDP in four years, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said
Wednesday.
Maait’s remarks came during his meeting with members of the French Chamber
of Commerce and Industry in Egypt, where he pledged that the Egyptian
government will not increase taxes or impose new ones, according to a
statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Finance.
The finance minister said in August that the government aims to reduce its
public debt to 92 percent of GDP in the budget of the current fiscal year
2018-2019.
Egypt’s government debt totalled 108 percent of the GDP in the fiscal year
2016-2017, according to a statement from former Finance Minister Amr el-Garhy
in May, where he said the government aims to reduce it to 80 percent of GDP
by 2020.
The lowest ratio of Egypt’s public debt to GDP was 73.3 percent in 2009.
Earlier in September, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said the
country’s foreign debt rose 17.2 percent to 92.64 billion U.S. dollars by the
end of June, compared with 79.02 billion dollars last year.
Egypt is implementing an economic reform program which started with
floatation of local currency in late 2016 to deal with dollar shortage,
reduce budget deficit and boost the economy which has been in recession after
years of political instability.
The Egyptian reform program is being supported by a 12-billion-dollar loan
from the International Monetary Fund, two thirds of which has been delivered
to the most populous Arab state.
BSS/XINHUA/HR/1410