Egypt will repay USD 6.3 bn of its foreign debt obligations in 2H2018, out of a total USD 12 bn in debt the government had said it intends to retire this year, Al Mal reports. The amount includes some USD 850 mn owed to international oil companies, of which USD 200-500 mn the EGPC plans to settle by September 2018. Egypt’s foreign debt obligations had stood at USD 82.9 bn at the end of December 2017, or around 36.1% of GDP, up from USD 67.3 bn at the end of December 2016. The government has already made a number of payments so far this year, including to the African Export-Import Bank and the UAE’s Dana Gas.

This comes as the UAE government reportedly agreed to roll over two deposits at the CBE worth USD 2 bn each. The deposits from 2013 and 2015 had been repayable in April and July this year. The earliest payment is now due in April 2019 and the last is payable in 2021; each earns the UAE an interest rate of 3.5%, according to the newspaper. CBE Governor Tarek Amer had said in April that Egypt was working on extending a number of GCC deposits, including ones from Saudi Arabia, as well as Kuwait, whose authorities had agreed in principle to roll over USD 4 bn-worth worth of deposits until September 2018 and April 2020.