Egypt is continuing to negotiate with the United States over a debt swap programme, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf El-Arabi has said.
Egypt aims to convince the US to swap foreign debt for assets, [2] and to drop over $1 billion in "odious" debt, the minister explained.
El-Arabi dismissed reports that negotiations with the US to drop Egypt's public debt had been halted following the Egyptian government's request to postpone a $4.8 billion loan agreement with the IMF earlier in December.
"We are very close to reaching an agreement with the US on dropping $450 million worth of debt. However, our counterparts are inclined to tie this agreement to the success of the IMF loan deal," El-Arabi told Al-Ahram's Arabic website.
"The debt swap programme will also aim to substitute $550 million of sovereign debt for developmental projects [3]," explained El-Arabi.
A ministry source noted that a US delegation would visit Egypt soon in order to negotiate terms of the proposed debt swap programme and audit Egypt's overall public debt. [4]
Egypt had previously sealed agreements with three European countries – France, Germany and Italy – pertaining to the implementation of similar debt swap programmes.
[5] © Copyright Al-Ahram Publishing House Links:
[1] http://www.syndigate.info
[2] http://www.albawaba.com/business/farm-debt-cancel-452885
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Egypt
[4] http://www.albawaba.com/business/egypt-deficit-452438
[5] http://english.ahram.org.eg