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Wednesday, 1 February 2023

House approves USD 47 mn grant from the US for small-scale farmers

The House of Representatives yesterday approved three foreign financing agreements to fund rural development, irrigation, and rail infrastructure. It also gave its final nod to some articles of a draft tourism bill it passed in principle earlier this week. The House has now adjourned and will reconvene on Sunday, 12 February.

The financing agreements approved by the House:

  • A USD 47 mn grant from the US to help smallholder farmers up productivity using new agricultural techniques. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned the extra USD 50 mn the US is sending us for food security in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war when he visited Cairo earlier this week.
  • An EUR 51.5 mn loan from the Export-Import Bank of South Korea (KEXIM) that will fund part of the project to upgrade the 224-km railway line linking Luxor and Aswan. The loan will be repaid over 40 years at a 1.7% interest rate with a five-year grace period.
  • An EUR 2.2 mn grant from Italy to train Irrigation Ministry technicians in water-saving techniques and provide them with modern irrigation tech.

AND- The House gave its final nod to around one-third of the articles in a draft tourism bill that it approved in principle earlier this week. The bill would strip the power to form and regulate tourism chambers from the Tourism Minister and place it instead in the hands of the Egyptian Tourism Federation (ETF). It also aims to make tourism chambers more democratic and independent and reinforce their role in promoting the industry.

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