Egypt Repays USD 6.4 Billion in External Debt Service in Q1 2025/2026

External debt service payments totalled USD 6.442 billion in the first quarter of the 2025/2026 fiscal year, according to the Central Bank of Egypt, marking a decline from USD 7.952 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The total included USD 2.078 billion in interest payments and USD 4.363 billion in principal repayments. The figures reflected a reduction in external obligations compared to the corresponding quarter of the 2024/2025 fiscal year.

External debt stood at USD 163.7 billion in September 2025, up from USD 161.23 billion in June. Despite the increase in absolute terms, the external debt-to-GDP ratio declined to approximately 42.4% at the end of September, compared to 44.2% at the end of June.

In parallel, net foreign assets in the banking sector rose by EGP 474.4 billion during the first half of the fiscal year, representing a 64% increase. This included EGP 339.2 billion at banks and EGP 135.2 billion at the central bank.

Foreign investor holdings of local treasury bills reached the equivalent of EGP 2.525 trillion in January 2026, compared to EGP 2.449 trillion in December 2025, indicating continued inflows into domestic debt instruments.

Remittances from Egyptians working abroad also recorded growth, rising by 28% to approximately USD 29.4 billion during the first eight months of the fiscal year, compared to around USD 23 billion in the same period a year earlier.

On a monthly basis, remittances increased by 25.7% in February 2026 to approximately USD 3.8 billion, up from about USD 3 billion in February 2025.