Mubasher: The value of interests paid by the Egyptian government grew by 28.7% year-on-year during the first six months of the fiscal year 2019/2020, according to a report released by the Ministry of Finance.

Interests rose to EGP 267.19 billion from July to the end of December 2019, compared to EGP 207.47 billion in the year-ago period.

Egypt is expected to pay EGP 971 billion worth of interests and installments in FY19/20, including EGP 596 billion interests and EGP 375 billion installments.

The North African country’s local debt dropped by 66.8% YoY to EGP 4.18 trillion at the end of September 2019, accounting for 66.8% of GDP.

Meanwhile, external debt rose to $109.3 billion at the end of September, making up 34.4% of GDP.