Chinese lenders make USD 3.1 bn in funding available for Carbon Holdings’ USD 10.9 bn petrochem complex: A group of unnamed Chinese lenders have made USD 3.1 bn in backup funding available for Carbon Holdings’ Tahrir Petrochemicals Corporation (TPC), Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) deputy head Mahfouz Taha tells Al Mal. According to Taha, TPC will be able to dip into these reserves if other funding is delayed or falls through. The USD 10.9 bn petrochemicals facility is being financed by a USD 5.4 bn debt package through institutions such as UK Export Finance, Germany’s Euler Hermes, and the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

TPC is expected to reach financial close in 3Q2018. Principal construction, which should begin before year’s end, should take about four years from the initial drawdown of funds, with trial operations set to start within 38 months of the start of construction. The world-scale petrochemicals facility is expected to deliver USD 8 bn in projected annual exports and produce raw materials that can be used in a variety of industries.

FT singles out TPC as an example on where FDI should be going: Egypt should be focused on “prosaic industrial investment” that can open up more avenues for job creation, the FT says in an opinion piece. Egypt has been on the right track, with measures and developments that have helped sustain its performance throughout the current EM sell-off, such as fuel subsidy cuts, cooling inflation rates, rebounding tourism, and high interests that “have attracted hot money into local currency bonds.” Going forward, however, the country needs to focus attracting investments to key industries to ensure a more sustainable and organic type of growth. The publication sees projects such as Carbon Holdings’ Tahrir Petrochemicals Complex as “the kind of key intermediate industry that has helped drive economic growth in Asian “tigers” such as Korea and Taiwan.”