Egypt widens use of 112m sq m Red Sea land plot to include public debt reduction
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A presidential decree has amended the allocation of about 112.1 million square metres of state-owned Red Sea land so that it can be used for public debt reduction as well as sovereign sukuk.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has issued a decree widening the permitted uses of a large state-owned land holding on the Red Sea to include reducing public debt, according to the Official Gazette.
The decree amends Article 1 of Presidential Decree No. 222 of 2026. The original text allocated the same plot, about 112.1 million square metres of land owned privately by the state, for issuing sovereign sukuk only. The amendment adds public debt reduction to its permitted uses.
The change emerged as Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk at the government headquarters in the New Administrative Capital to follow up on the recommendations of the Egypt Forum 2026 on reducing the debt of budget-sector bodies, in cooperation with state economic authorities. May Adel, assistant finance minister for public debt management, and Mahmoud Hodhod, head of the ministry's bank relations unit, also attended.
Madbouly called debt reduction a top government priority aimed at easing the cost of servicing it and freeing resources for priority sectors and public services. The forum's recommendations set a path to bring public debt down to about 69.5 per cent of GDP by 2030, with fixed ceilings on public debt, external debt and sovereign guarantees.
Kouchouk said the ratio of budget-sector debt to GDP had been falling since the 2023/24 fiscal year and had dropped by about 14 percentage points between June 2023 and June 2026, while external debt of budget-sector bodies was cut by the equivalent of about 3.9 per cent of GDP in 2025/26.
The finance minister presented proposals to speed up debt reduction, achieve higher growth and diversify funding through new and innovative instruments. Madbouly directed officials to draw up a detailed plan setting out specific tasks for each ministry and government body, to be presented to the president.