Egypt signs debt swap agreements with Germany, Italy, China

The minister’s announcement came during the high-level session titled “Debt Solutions for Resilience and Reform: Financing the 2030 Agenda in Africa and Beyond,” held on Thursday during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville, Spain.

The conference, held from 30 June to 3 July, aims to advance Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and support the reform of international financial architecture.

The session highlighted the growing debt burden on developing countries, according to a statement by the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation.

During the session, Al-Mashat noted that the external debt stock of low- and middle-income countries reached a record $8.8 trillion in 2023. Debt servicing costs totalled $1.4 trillion, nearly $1 trillion when excluding China, double the level from a decade ago.

"Over 60 percent of low-income countries are now in or near debt distress," Al-Mashat said.

Without policy intervention, global public debt is projected to surpass 100 percent of global GDP by 2030, she added.