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Tuesday, 18 January 2022

Egypt takes out USD 10.3 bn of development loans in 2021

Egypt borrowed USD 10.3 bn from bilateral and multilateral lenders in 2021, according to the International Cooperation Ministry’s annual report (pdf) published yesterday. Most of the funding — USD 8.7 bn — went to the public sector, while the remaining USD 1.6 bn went to private-sector initiatives.

The key public sector financing agreements: By far the biggest chunk of funding to the public sector came in the form of a USD 2 bn loan under a framework agreement between Egypt, the French government and the French Development Agency (AFD). The second-largest financing agreement was a USD 1.4 bn facility from the International Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) for basic commodities imports including wheat and other foods, followed by a USD 962 mn loan, also from the ITFC, for the import of petroleum products and more basic commodities.

The breakdown:

  • Budget support received loans of USD 1.6 bn, including: USD 360 mn apiece from the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to support the post-covid recovery; USD 582 mn from the World Bank and AFD for the universal health ins. scheme: and USD 330 mn from Japan and the African Development Bank (AfDB) for electricity sector reforms.
  • Agriculture, supply and irrigation received USD 1.6 bn in grants and loans, largely accounted for by the IFTC loan for food imports.
  • Transport received USD 1.1 bn in loans, including USD 518 mn from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the Cairo Line 1 and Alexandria metro projects, and the remainder from the World Bank, AfDB, and Austria for other railway upgrades.
  • Energy projects (including renewables) came next with USD 1 bn, the bulk of which is accounted for by the IFTC petroleum imports loan.
  • The environment, housing, and education were also highlighted as key sectors for development finance in the report, receiving USD 230 mn, USD 169 mn, and USD 134 mn respectively.

The biggest contributors to private sector financing were the EBRD at USD 527 mn, the UK’s CDC Group at USD 420 mn, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) at USD 248 mn.

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