Egypt has no problem in paying off its debts and foreign obligations: CBE

Daily News Egypt
3 Min Read

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE)’s Sub Governor for Markets and Foreign Relations Sector, Rami Abulnaga said that Egypt is not facing any problems repaying its foreign debts and obligations, stating that all obligations are paid on time.

Abulnaga statements came on the sidelines of Beltone Access conference organized by Beltone Investment Bank, where he said that the Egyptian economy is able to generate resources to cover the payment of obligations and needs, through its natural resources, such as the Suez Canal, tourism, export, investment, and others, after successful reform measures that have been implemented over the past few years.

CBE announced last month that it repaid $25bn in debt and interest between the end of March 2017 to the end of March 2019.

According to Abulnaga, foreign investors have become more confident in the Egyptian economy, not only because of the reform measures that have been implemented, but also because of transparency and clarity on the part of the Egyptian government with its people and the investment community, in the nature of problems, challenges and measures that would have been taken from the beginning.

He pointed out that the clarity of vision was a key factor in facilitating the government to make the economic reform program successful, and help it to make many difficult decisions, including reform of the fuel and energy subsidies system and others.

He asserted that the government’s consistency with its vision through a specific policy and a clear strategy, beside its insistence on implementation were among the factors that made foreign investors more confident in the Egyptian economy, pointing that it was supported by the government’s proven desire to continue implementing reforms and maintaining successes.

On the interest rate cut and the impact on the appetite of foreign investors on Egyptian debt instruments, Abulnaga explained that foreign investors do not care about the interest rate and its value, as much as they are concerned about the clarity of policies and stability and confidence in the economy. He stated that this was seen from the number of foreign investors who talked to the CBE, and reflected by the figures of foreign investments in the Egyptian treasury bills, which returned to high levels again despite the successive rate cuts during the last period.

He stressed that the economies are not based on hot money, but on the real economy, production, export, and investment, pointing out that the indicators of the Egyptian economy improved significantly.

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