The total value of long-term loans taken out by government economic bodies reached EGP 68.9bn in the 2012/2013 fiscal year (FY), compared to EGP 66.7bn in 2011/2012, marking a 3.3% year on year increase, according to a Monday statement by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

The statement mentioned that the annual statistics and finance indicators include the three main indicators for the increase of long-term loan value: total value of fixed assets, net invested capital and the value of cash in banks.

The total value of fixed assets recorded at EGP 690bn for FY 2012/2013, compared to EGP 170.5bn in FY 2011/2012, marking an 18.4% increase.

The net invested capital increased as well, according to the statement, reaching EGP 690bn compared to EGP 546.6bn in FY 2011/2012, registering a 26.3% increase.

The third indicator, the value of cash in banks and fund, recorded EGP 43.9bn in 2012/2013 compared to EGP 42.1bn in 2011/2012, which marks a decrease of 4.3%.

Soad Bakhaty, head of the Central Budget Department for Economic Bodies, said that an increase of the long-term loan value can generally be attributed to instability or insecurity. She added that this poses a burden on economic bodies, as they have to depend on other sources of funds other than loans, which become too expensive due to rising interest rates.