These figures indicate a decrease to 39.8 percent of the country’s GDP, compared to 43 percent at the end of 4Q of 2023.

This decline can be attributed to the $35 billion Ras El-Hekma deal, the CBE said in its report on the Egyptian economy's external situation.

After sealing the Ras El-Hekma development deal with the UAE in February, Egypt received cash liquidity of $24 billion. However, the remaining $11 billion was UAE deposits at the CBE dedicated to local investment. This reflected positively on the country's debt levels.

Egypt is committed to curbing its high-level debt to below 80 percent of GDP in 2027, under its $8 billion loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which ends in September 2026, 

Moreover, the CBE data showed that debt service payments rose to $23.8 billion by the end of March 2024, compared to $17.8 billion in the same period of 2023.

Similarly, principal and interest payments rose by $3.9 billion and $2.1 billion, respectively.

During 1Q of 2024, Egypt has repaid approximately $8.2 billion of total external debt service, with $2.5 billion allocated to interest and $5.7 billion to principal repayments.

Meanwhile, the CBE’s external debt decreased by around $2.5 billion to approximately $41.1 billion by the end of March, while the banks' external debt shrank by about $900 million to $20.1 billion, representing 12.5 percent of the total external debt.

Egypt's total debt to Arab countries stood at $41.6 billion by the end of March 2024. The UAE holds approximately $16.4 billion, or 10.2 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia holding around $12.6 billion, or 7.8 percent.

Kuwait ranked third among Arab countries with a total debt of $6.2 billion, or 3.9 percent, and Qatar came last with about $4 billion, or 2.5 percent.

Balance of payments data released by the CBE revealed that net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Egypt's non-oil sector rose to $23.9 billion during the first nine months of the fiscal year 2023/2024, compared to about $8.9 billion during the same period of FY2022/2023.

This was mainly driven by the $15 billion inflows during the January/March 2024 period after the implementation of the Ras El-Hekma deal.