The World Bank’s board of directors will vote later this month on disbursing a second USD 1 bn tranche of an USD 3 bn facility. International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr says the 20 December vote was scheduled after the conclusion of talks on the second tranche, which we had reported last month would arrive in January. This comes as Egypt is set to receive in Marchsome USD 300 mn in grants pledged by the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development, said the fund’s head, Abdel Wahab Badr. Nasr added that talks with Germany for a EUR 250 mn loan to support the economic reform program are ongoing.

Badr and Nasr’s statements come at the signing of three cooperation agreements between Egypt and the Kuwaiti Fund worth a combined EGP 2.5 bn, Ahram Gate reported. The funding is for a desalination plant, funding for water infrastructure and healthcare projects (some of which target Syrian refugee communities), and technical and financial studies for a 1 GW solar power plant and a solar panel manufacturing plant.