Financing updates from CBE, NBE
Kuwait has agreed “in principle” to roll over some USD 4 bn in deposits it made in 2013, state news agency MENA reports, quoting CBE Governor Tarek Amer. We understand in parallel that the state is working to extend two other deposits by GCC countries, with now being repayable in September of this year and the other delayed to April 2020.
Meanwhile, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) is raising some USD 600 mn in a club loan from a group of lenders, banking sources told Reuters on Sunday. A three-year debt facility and will likely be provided by international banks and some UAE lenders with NBE coordinating the fundraising, the sources added. While the purpose of the loan was not stated, the newswire is assuming the loan will be used to bolster foreign currency liquidity. NBE had borrowed USD 300 mn from the African Export Import Bank last year and raised a USD 390 mn in a three-year syndicated loan arranged by HSBC, Citi, Arab Banking Corp, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Standard Chartered and Union National Bank.