Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023. (Credit: Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo)
Egypt's development partners should show understanding of the economic pressures it is under as it pursues development plans and tries to manage a growing debt burden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Thursday.
"Programs for renewables, water distillations, improving road networks and using electric transportation vehicles cost us major sums of money," Sisi said at a finance summit in Paris.
A plan to manage debt was being implemented, but because of events over the past three years, Egypt and other countries "need our development partners to be understanding," he said, referring to a period when Egypt suffered shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Sisi called for reforming the global financial infrastructure to promote sustainable development financing, including re-allocation of the International Monetary Fund's special drawing rights and suspending or cancelling the fund's additional fees in times of crisis.
The Egyptian president also appealed for more debt swaps, saying the Paris summit highlighted the importance of taking quick international decisions that prevent the outbreak of a major debt crisis.
Egypt faces an increasingly tough task: raising cash for foreign debt repayments after external borrowing quadrupled over the past eight years.