CAIRO, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's foreign debt hit 96.6 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2018, up by 16.5 percent year on year, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The foreign debt increased by 13.7 billion dollars in 2018, or 16.5 percent, compared with the previous year," the CBE's statement said.

The statement added that the CBE managed to repay more than 36 billion dollars in foreign debts and liabilities in the past three years.

Egypt's economy has been battered by years of turmoil following the 2011 popular uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt adopted a strict three-year economic reform program since late 2016, starting with local currency floatation to contain dollar shortage followed by austerity measures, energy subsidy cuts and tax increases.

The liberalization of the Egyptian pound's exchange rate encouraged the International Monetary Fund to support Egypt's economic reform plan by a 12-billion-dollar loan.

Egypt's foreign reserves stood at 44.22 billion dollars at the end of April, the highest ever since March 2011, when it was estimated at 36 billion dollars.