To provide an internal combustion engine equipped with an exhaust supercharger, having improved fuel efficiency while suppressing the occurrence of knocking by recovering exhaust heat by the exhaust supercharger and increasing a geometric compression ratio by a delayed closing timing for an intake valve.

The internal combustion engine includes a variable valve timing device for controlling a closing timing Ic for the intake valve between a maximum advanced closing timing Iac and a maximum delayed closing timing Irc depending on an engine operating condition, and a supercharging pressure control device for controlling the supercharging pressure by the exhaust supercharger. When the engine operating condition is in a high load, the supercharging pressure control device controls the supercharging pressure to be set to supercharging pressure with intake average pressure in an intake stroke higher than exhaust average pressure in an exhaust stroke and the variable valve timing device sets the closing timing Ic for the intake valve to a predetermined closing timing Ipc delayed from the maximum advanced closing timing Iac, or to the maximum delayed closing timing Irc.

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