CBE lauds early payments, rebuts criticism

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) yesterday said that Egypt was fully committed to repaying its foreign debts as scheduled.

The Bank added in a statement that it had paid $ 349.1 during January to creditor states of Paris Club and transferred $ 158 million to Egypt's account at Banque de France, thereby taking the total in the account to $ 1 billion.

"This means," said the Bank, " Egypt has met all its obligations toward Paris Club member states for one year in advance.

The Banks statement was commenting on a report released on Tuesday by an international financial institution that gave passive assessment of the Egyptian economy.

The CBE said that an amount of $ 63.5 million was paid as scheduled, the value of coupons of the Egyptian dollar bonds traded in the international market.

The Bank voiced full confidence in controlling speculation in the Egyptian foreign exchange market.

"The new exchange system (in Egypt) is flexible enough to reflect the market forces," added the statement.

It added that like other countries, Egypt had felt the adverse impact of the September 11 attacks on the United States.