Renewable energy authority reaches EGP 3.4 bn debt settlement agreement with National Investment Bank: The New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) has reached an agreement to settle over the course of 10 years some EGP 3.4 bn in debt owed to the state’s National Investment Bank (NIB), NIB Chairman Mahmoud Montasser tells Al Shorouk. The two sides are waiting on the necessary approvals to formally sign the settlement agreement, according to Montasser. The agreement comes as part of the NIB’s drive to settle some EGP 24 bn in debt it is owed by a range of state bodies. The bank is currently closing in on a settlement with the Chemical Industries Holding Company and is inching toward agreements on some EGP 500 mn owed by each of the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) and the Food Industries Holding Company. The National Media Authority is also looking to repay a portion of its debt to NIB — the value of which was not disclosed — by handing over four land plots. The bank had signed last month an EGP 8.7 bn debt settlement agreement with the Cotton & Textiles Industries Holding Company, which may be a prelude to the company selling some of its assets to the private sector to pay off other debts, company CEO Ahmed Moustafa had told us.