Egypt to pay $5.2B to Afreximbank before end of December: CBE

CAIRO – 25 September 2017: Egypt will pay $5.2 billion to the African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank) before the end of December, the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer said.

Amer added in press statements that repaying the bank’s dues will highly contribute to decreasing foreign liabilities.

The

Afreximbank

is cooperating with the CBE, National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr to provide $500 million in facilities to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their supply chains.

The total portfolio of Afreximbank for Egypt is $5.2 billion.

Egypt’s foreign debt leveled up 38.4 percent to $73.9 billion by the end of March 2017 from $53.47 billion in the year-ago period.

Foreign reserves also increased to $36.143 billion by the end of August, up from $36.036 billion by the end of July.

The Egyptian government has been applying an economic reforms’ program since the end of 2015, which included imposing the value added tax (VAT), devaluation the Egyptian pound and cutting the subsidies on the electricity and petroleum substances.