EBRD could help fund Afia’s imports: Savola Group’s edible oil company Afia Egypt could receive a USD 20 mn senior unsecured loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to help it pay for imports amid an FX crunch at home and growing food insecurity abroad, according to the lender’s website.

What they said: The financing would support Afia Egypt’s “working capital needs for the importation of its main production input, edible oil, from the international markets,” the EBRD said. “The project strengthens the company's resilience to the current and potential shocks from the external environment with growing food security threats in the SEMED region and foreign currency shortage in Egypt following the Russia-Ukraine war,” it said.

REMEMBER- Egyptian importers are facing tough times right now, with import restrictions making it more difficult to bring goods into the country and the falling value of the currency making what goods they are able to import more expensive. Hard currency has become scarce due to tightening global financial conditions and the fallout from the war in Ukraine has, forcing the central bank to intervene with the curbs to shore up the country’s FX reserves.