Long-term external debt amounted to $119.26 billion in 2023, compared to $111.09 billion in 2022.
Egypt’s external debt reached $168.06 billion in 2023, marking an increase from $163.09 billion in 2022, according to the latest World Bank International Debt Report.
Over the past decade, the country’s external debt has risen significantly, from $46.5 billion in 2013 to more than three times that amount by 2023.
Long-term external debt amounted to $119.26 billion in 2023, compared to $111.09 billion in 2022. The public and publicly guaranteed sector accounted for the majority of this, reaching $117.38 billion.
Of this, $67.86 billion was owed to official creditors, including multilateral and bilateral lenders, while $49.52 billion was due to private creditors.
Private-sector exposure included $29.80 billion held by bondholders and $19.73 billion by commercial banks and other private lenders. Meanwhile, short-term external debt decreased slightly to $29.48 billion in 2023 from $30.25 billion in 2022.
The report also notes a decline in Egypt’s use of International Monetary Fund (IMF) credit and Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), which fell to $19.32 billion in 2023 from $21.75 billion in 2022.
IMF-related obligations have steadily increased since 2016, with a total of about $30 billion in loans approved for Egypt since that time.
The report highlights a rise in Egypt’s debt ratios, signaling increasing pressure from external debt. The external debt-to-gross national income (GNI) ratio climbed to 44.4 percent in 2023, up from 35.4 percent in 2022.
The debt-service-to-exports ratio also increased to 30.4 percent in 2023, up from 23.2 percent in 2022, while external debt stocks accounted for 238.6 percent of exports in 2023, compared to 210.5 percent in 2022.
The report further discusses the growing burden of external debt on developing countries globally, with developing nations paying more in debt repayments than they received in new financing between 2022 and 2024. This marks the largest gap in at least five decades.
The World Bank’s chief economist, Indermit Gill, warned that while global financial conditions are improving, developing countries must remain cautious about their rising debt burdens.
Developing nations are restructuring large portions of their debt and receiving high-cost financing at interest rates averaging around 10 percent, nearly double pre-2020 levels.
In 2024, developing countries paid a record $415 billion in interest, money that could have been used for essential services such as education and healthcare.
Furthermore, low-cost financing options are becoming scarce, and countries are increasingly turning to domestic markets to finance their debts.
This situation poses risks of crowding out private-sector lending and exposing governments to higher refinancing costs due to shorter debt maturities.
As the global financial landscape shifts, policymakers must take steps to manage their fiscal responsibilities and ensure that debt remains sustainable in the long term.
