Egypt’s debts to the Paris Club decreased by 18% in the third quarter (Q3) of fiscal year (FY) 2014/2015, the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) latest report indicated.
Egypt repays an amount of $670m to the Paris Club every six months, with the latest payment made at the beginning of the current month.
The CBE noted that the total debt to the Paris Club’s members, decreased to $3.030bn in March of this year, down from $3.706 in March 2014. Another round amounting to $670m is expected to be paid by Egypt this upcoming January.
Meanwhile, in June 2015, the CBE announced that Egypt’s external debt declined to $39.9bn by the end of March, marking a 13.5% decrease. March’s figures compare to June 2014, when debt amounted to $46.1bn.
The Paris Club describes itself as “an informal group of official creditors, whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries”.
It also says: “Paris Club creditors provide debt treatments to debtor countries in the form of rescheduling, which is debt relief by postponement or, in the case of concessional rescheduling, reduction in debt service obligations during a defined period (flow treatment) or as of a set date (stock treatment).”
The Paris Club was established in 1956, and since then, the club has managed to reach a total of 430 agreements with 90 debtor countries.
Creditor countries participating in the Paris Club are France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Spain, Netherlands, the UK, Canada, the US, Norway and Sweden.
