Egypt plans lowering debt to GDP ratio to below 85%

Maait made his statements during a ceremony that was held on Saturday to launch Egypt’s first Samurai bonds in Japan.

The ceremony was attended by the Japanese Ambassador to Egypt Oka Hiroshi, as well as other Egyptian and Japanese officials.

Egypt issued its first-of-a-kind Japanese Yen-dominated bonds with a total value of $500 million with a maturity of five years and an average cost representing 2.33 percent of annual issuance to diversify its financial resources and investor base amid the ongoing global economic challenges by tapping the Japanese debt market.

This issuance is the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Maait also expounded that the government decreased government bodies’ debt to GDP ratio prior to the pandemic to 90.2 percent by the end of June 2019, down from the 108 percent recorded in June 2017.