Egyptian businessman Hassan Heikal on Thursday proposed a “grand swap” as a solution to Egypt’s domestic debt woes. He explained that this solution involves transferring state investments to the sovereign wealth fund, with the state owning approximately 70 percent of it. This amount would then be deducted from the state’s outstanding public debt. Heikal explained that this swap would ease the government’s interest burden by transferring debt from commercial banks to the CBE, without impacting the banks’ financial health. The CBE should not be ‘distracted’Economist Khaled Saqr, a former head of a mission at the International Monetary Fund, responded to Heikal’s proposal.

Source: Egypt Independent December 27, 2025 10:51 UTC