Sisi Asks Lenders to "Understand" Egypt's Economic Pressures

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi stated today, during a financing summit in Paris, that a debt management plan is being implemented and that Egypt needs "understanding from our development partners." Sisi remarked that "renewable energy programs, water treatment, road improvements, and the use of electric transportation have cost us a huge amount of money." He called for "reforming the global financial structure to enhance sustainable development financing, which includes reallocating Special Drawing Rights from the International Monetary Fund and suspending or eliminating additional Fund fees during crises." The Egyptian president also urged for more debt swaps, saying that "the Paris summit highlighted the importance of making swift international decisions to prevent a major debt crisis." Egypt faces an increasingly challenging task in gathering the liquidity necessary to repay external debts after external borrowing quadrupled over the past eight years.