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Sunday, 27 December 2020

On our radar for 27 December 2020

Egypt is soon getting the final tranche of a Chinese loan to finance the new capital’s business district, cabinet said in a statement on Friday. Officials signed an agreement with a group of Chinese banks this weekend to disburse the third and final tranche, the statement noted without mentioning a size and timeline. Egypt closed USD 3 bn in Chinese financing back in May 2019 to finance the construction of the district, which is being built by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC). The release of the loan had reportedly faced delays earlier this year after the government failed to meet certain conditions, government sources said at the time, without disclosing more information.

Other things we’re keeping an eye on this morning:

  • Vodafone Egypt is looking to launch a pilot nano lending service with Bank of Alexandria through mobile wallets, Vodafone Egypt’s external relations director, Ayman Essam, told Bloomberg.
  • The National Bank of Egypt and state-owned fintech firm e-Finance will establish an e-payment system for services offered by a number of local municipalities.
  • The Egyptian Commercial Service is considering establishing eight new commercial offices in Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Togo, Senegal, Cameroon, Nigeria and Mozambique.
  • NBE and Banque Misr are providing EGP 50 mn under a program with the World Food Programme (pdf) to small farmers and women entrepreneurs in Upper Egypt.
  • Authorities have completed a renovation of the Philae Temple in Aswan, and are planning to reopen the landmark to the public soon.

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