Sisi calls on AIIB to offer more low-cost financing to accommodate emerging economies

CAIRO - 26 September 2023: President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called on the Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIIB) to play a greater role in low-cost financing to support economies amid global challenges.

On Monday in a Sharm el-Sheikh, conference of AIIB, Sisi said that in eight years, Egypt has closed a much bigger gap in infrastructure and now has a modern infrastructure sector.

“We have spent huge sums of money to build an infrastructure with which Egypt could step into immensely wide horizons of development in various fields,” Sisi says.

Egypt also has a vision to support the private sector, which participated in building this modern infrastructure because the companies of the public sector could not embark on projects worth trillions of dollars and pounds. So the private sector’s share of financing was significantly large, according to Sisi.

All sectors were lagging; there was a gap in energy, transport, etc. The state exerted huge efforts and spent a lot of money to fill these gaps, and a lot of that was done through borrowing.

Sisi expressed deep admiration for AIIB, which has become the second largest multilateral bank in the world with a portfolio reaching $100 billion... and A3 rating from agencies such as Fitch A3 and a stable future outlook.

AIIB provided more than $44 billion to 35 countries for 232 projects over the past few years. This is a great and wonderful thing, Sisi highlighted.

22 decrees by the Supreme Council for Investment are being enforced to stimulate private sector investments, as well as mechanisms such as tax incentives for more than 150 priority projects.

Some 5,000 privately-owned companies contributed to infrastructure projects in Egypt, which proves the political will to engage the private sector, Sisi says.

The state ownership policy eliminates all privileges enjoyed by public sector to ensure fairness and equal opportunities for all, he adds.

Further, 5-10 years of tax exemption is offered to start investing in priority areas.

We speak of Africa through the Egyptian experience of planning, execution and outcome. This is very important for Africa to grow using low-cost financing.

We always need low-cost financing so burdens don’t accumulate on the Egyptian state, Sisi underscored.