Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) figures have shown that Egypt’s foreign debt jumped 40.8 percent year-on-year to $US 67.32 billion in December.

The size of Egypt’s foreign debt has increased by $US 19.52 billion in 2016.

Egypt’s economy has been suffering since the 25 January 2011 uprising. In 2016, the Egyptian government started negotiations on a $US 12 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and secured it in an attempt to ease dollar shortage.

Egypt has already received the first tranche of the three-year $US 12 billion IMF loan and is expecting to receive the second tranche in May.

In March, Egypt received the second tranche of a $US 3 billion loan from the World Bank. CBE said that the domestic loan rose 28.9 percent to $3.05 billion.

Meanwhile, CBE deputy governor told MENA news agency on Sunday that the foreign currency inflows into the Egyptian banking systems have reached about $US 17 billion since the Egyptian Pound was floated in November.

The flotation was a move taken by CBE to end the black market for dollars that led to severe shortage of dollars in banks.

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