Cairo – Mubasher: The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is planning to provide Egypt with financing of up to $1.2 billion over the course of two years, a top official at the AFDB has said.
Speaking to Enterprise, AfDB country manager for Egypt Malinne Blomberg revealed that the loan, which spans 2019 and 2020, will be used in the energy and development sectors.
Meanwhile, Khaled Sherif, AfDB vice president for Egypt, told Enterprise that Egypt’s ranking as the largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the African continent in 2018 is an indication of the massive strides it has taken as part of its economic reform programme and its commitment to it.
The AfDB is still in talks with the Egyptian government over a $500 million loan, which would be allocated to supporting the electricity sector and the country’s transformation. The AfDB’s board is set to issue its final decision regarding that loan this year.
In December, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued a presidential decree approving a $500 million loan from the AfDB.
The AfDB has other programmes and projects in Egypt, including a wastewater project in Upper Egypt added to a technology-training programme for university students.
In February, the AfDB signed an EGP 80 million entrepreneurship-development agreement with Egypt. The banks also said it invested in over 100 projects in the past decade in Egypt, adding that it had agreed, during the period, to participate in financing 42 projects with over $2.5 billion.
