The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced that Egypt had paid all its due bills for the purchase of imported crude oil and natural gas from foreign companies for the fiscal year 2015-2016. The north African country also paid off $100m of outstanding debt to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), Arab Economic News reported.

According to the settlement process through which the Oil Ministry pays off installments every three months, due balances to foreign partners currently stand at $3.4b, wrote El Youm 7. The total dues were $3b in the first quarter of 2016, however, the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum struggled to collect enough hard currency to meet their dues. Furthermore, the ministry was unsuccessful in convincing companies to accept some payments in Egyptian pounds in lieu of allowing them to export crude.