CAIRO, Jul 1 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt has settled all of its debts with Qatar after repaying bonds worth $1 billion to the Gulf country on Friday, the central bank governor said.
According to state run news agency MENA, CBE governor Tarek Amer said the bonds were issued to Egypt during the tenure of former president Mohamed Mursi.
Following the July 2013 power shift that saw Mursi's military ouster after mass protests against his rule, Egyptian-Qatari ties turned tense/took a turn for the worse and the post-Mursi authorities decided to repay debts to the Gulf monarchy.
A source within the CBE said the total dues repaid by the central bank to Qatar in the past two years amounted to $7 billion.
Egypt has settled the Qatari debt at a time when the Egyptian economy is in dire need of assistance. With a downturn in tourism, and political turmoil that has stretched out for over five years, Egypt is extremely short on hard currency.
Qatar was once a strong supporter of Mursi's regime. Its protest over the Islamist president's ouster led to tension with other gulf states who support Egypt's new regime, mostly Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
