Egypt to make early settlement of all oil and gas arrears by 10 June
During a meeting with the petroleum ministry, Madbouly confirmed that the country’s remaining outstanding arrears of $440 million will be paid in full within the next couple of weeks, ahead of the previously scheduled time of 30 June or the end of the current FY 2025/2026.
The state managed to drop what it owes by $275 million in May, from $714 at the end of April and from $6.1 billion on 30 June 2024.
This new timeline is driven by consistent payments of dues, aligning with efforts to reduce accumulated debt, and implementing incentive measures that led to new developments in the oil and gas sector.
This encouraged several companies to expand exploration and production activities with recent projects, including Agiba Petroleum discovering a new well last week in Egypt’s Western Desert, which is expected to produce almost 330 billion cubic feet of gas.
Egypt also signed an initial agreement with Spanish geophysical solutions provider Xcalibur Smart Mapping to implement the first comprehensive aerial survey of the country’s mineral resources in 42 years, providing an accurate database for possible mining locations and mineral resources in Egypt.
These moves aid in restoring investor confidence in the country’s investment climate, as ongoing regional conflicts have been causing pressure on energy prices and global economies, but the pressure on Egypt’s economy has remained contained so far.
Egypt’s debt servicing costs have consumed nearly 76 percent of total revenues during the first 10 months of fiscal year 2025/2026, declining month-on-month from 81.8 percent during the first nine months of the same fiscal year as revenues continued to rise.
Reducing debt is also one of the government’s priorities that aligns with objectives for Egypt’s $8 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
An IMF delegation is currently in Cairo to conduct the seventh review of the EFF and the second review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), which, upon completion on 15 June, will unlock around $1.6 billion in new financing for Egypt.