The Caisse de la Dette Publique ("Public Debt Commission", Arabic: صندوق الدين في مصر, romanized: ṣundūq ad-dayn fī-Miṣr) was an international commission established by a decree issued by Khedive Isma'il of Egypt on 2 May 1876 to supervise the payment by the Egyptian government of the loans to the European governments following several modernisation projects including the construction of the Suez Canal.
[1] The Khedive had defaulted on paying back Egypt's foreign debts, which were mostly owed to the British and the French.
[7] In 1875 Isma'il Pasha decided to sell Egypt's shares in the Suez Canal to make up for its foreign debt.
"[10] It was initially led by a secretary and three commissioners representing the governments of Austria-Hungary, France and Italy; from 1877 the United Kingdom and from 1885 Russia and Germany.
[11] George Goschen, a Director of the Bank of England and later on a Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Edmond Joubert, a French banker from Paris, were chosen to coordinate the initial task of creating a plan for the Egyptian financial situation.
[14] The Public Debt Commission was abolished by a bilateral agreement between the British and the Egyptian governments, signed on 17 July 1940,[15] due to Allied interest in improving relations with Cairo during the Second World War.