Egypt's external debt down to $39.58 bn in Q3 in FY2014/15: CBE

Egypt's external debt reached $39.58 billion, or 12.5 percent of GDP, in the third quarter of the current fiscal year, down from $45.1 billion, or 15.8 percent of GDP, in the same period a year earlier, according to the Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) June statistical bulletin.

Government debt, which contributed around 60 percent to all external debt, slowed to 7.5 percent of GDP from 10.1 percent in the aforementioned period.

The central bank attributed the decline in external debt to the repayment of $3.5 billion of loans and credit facilitations, according to state-run news agency MENA.

The CBE also credited a $2.7 billion saved as a result of the fall in the value of the currencies owed as a debt to the dollar for the decline.

In April, net reserves reached $20.5 billion following the receipt of $12 billion in the form of central bank deposits from Gulf countries that month.