IFC pledges USD 2 bn in funding to Egypt’s private sector until 2019: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is committed to extending as much as USD 2 bn in funding to Egypt’s private sector until 2019 under the country’s cooperation framework with the World Bank Group, IFC CEO Philippe Le Houérou told Investment Minister Sahar Nasr this weekend at a meeting in Washington, D.C. The amount could be increased to support SMEs and other entrepreneurial projects, Le Houérou said, according to a ministry statement (pdf). Nasr —who said she hopes to see the IFC support more projects in transportation, energy, communications, and entrepreneurship — also discussed increased cooperation with the World Bank on social protection with Senior Director for Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practices, Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez.

The economic reform agenda also received props from the team that puts together the World Bank’s Doing Business Report, who told Nasr they were confident that recent measures would improve Egypt’s global ranking on the ease of doing business index.