Egypt's Central Bank Says Mounting Foreign Debt at $82.9bn

EGYPT'S foreign debts reached around $82.9 billion, for the period ending December 2017, rising by 4.9 percent compared to six months earlier, the Central Bank of Egypt revealed in a report on Wednesday.

The CBE, however, maintains that the foreign debt to gross domestic product ratio is "still within the safe limits according to international standards", standing at 36.1 percent. Egypt's foreign debts reached $67.3 billion in December 2016.

The report comes as the government presses ahead with an economic reform program that has included slashing fuel and electricity subsidies, imposing a value-added tax and a currency floatation. The measures were taken in order to qualify for a three-year $12 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund, which it secured in 2016. A new round of fuel subsidy cuts is expected soon.