The net foreign asset deficit is the net total value of foreign assets owned by the country's banks, minus their foreign liabilities.

Egypt's net foreign assets deficit increased to EGP 837.3 billion ($27 billion) in June 2023, up from EGP 755.1 billion ($24.4 billion) in May 2023. The deficit stood at EGP 372 billion ($12 billion) in June 2022.

Total foreign assets declined to EGP 1,438 billion in June 2023 from EGP 1,483 billion in May. 

Remittances, a key stream of foreign currency to Egypt, drastically decreased by 26.1 percent to only $17.5 billion in the first three quarters of 2022/2023, down from $23.6 billion in the same period for the previous fiscal year.

Meanwhile, foreign liabilities rose to EGP 2,275 billion in June, compared to EGP 2,238 billion a month before.

This marks a significant increase from a year before when Egypt's total foreign assets totaled EGP 884 billion while foreign liabilities were EGP 1,256 billion.

Egypt's external debt increased by 4.8 percent to $165.3 billion in Q3 of FY 2022/23, up from $157.8 billion in Q3 of the previous year.

The country seeks to tackle a critical shortage of US dollars from which it has suffered for almost a year and a half, to bridge an estimated $17 billion financing gap until 2026.