Egypt approves development financing agreements worth $595M with World Bank, FDA, Spain

CAIRO - 19 October 2022: Egypt’s House of Representatives approved Wednesday three development financing agreements with the World Bank Group, the French Agency for Development and Spain worth $595 million.

 

The Ministry of International Cooperation said that the approval came within the framework of development cooperation efforts between the Arab Republic of Egypt and multilateral and bilateral development partners to support the country’s development efforts In various fields.

 

It stated, in a statement, that the House of Representatives approved the decision of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt No. 408 of 2022 regarding the approval of a development financing agreement (the emergency project to support food security and flexible response) between Egypt and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) at the amount of $500 million.

 

The financing, approved by the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group last June, comes within the framework of the strategic relations between Egypt and the World Bank and with the aim of strengthening Egypt’s efforts to achieve food security, strengthening the resilience of the Egyptian economy in the face of the current crisis facing the world at the level of food, and supporting the endeavors aimed at providing a safe stock of wheat.

 

The IBRD is the lending arm of the World Bank Group. 

 

The new financing achieves two main goals, first: improving the flexibility of the wheat supply chain, reducing waste and improving farms’ access to local grain markets, by providing financing to the Silos Holding Company to design, build and expand grain silos and modernize silos management and information systems. 

 

The second goal is to improve farm resilience and enable local production Sustainable cereals through: research, development and deployment of adapted, high-yielding wheat varieties, improvement of productivity through technology transfer, increase of agricultural extension services, expansion of early warning systems to overcome climate change, provision of training and capacity building.

 

Moreover, the House of Representatives approved the decision of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt No. 399 of 2022 regarding the approval of the simplified agreement between Egypt represented by the Ministry of International Cooperation and the French Development Agency (FRDA) on the project to develop the Tanta-Mansoura-Damietta railway.

 

Through the agreement, the FDA provides Egypt with funding with a maximum amount of €95 million ($93.4 million), and a grant with a maximum amount not exceeding €2 million, ($1.9 million).

 

The House of Representatives also approved the decision of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt No. 409 of 2022 regarding the approval of the mutual letter between Egypt and Spain regarding a grant to finance a project to strengthen the capabilities of the Women’s Complaints Office at an amount of €350 thousand ($344 thousand).

 

Over the past two years, the Ministry of International Cooperation has concluded development financing agreements with multilateral and bilateral development partners, worth $20 billion, $9.8 billion in 2020, and $10.2 billion in 2021.

 

The development financing agreements directed to the private sector amounted to about $4.8 billion, representing about 23 percent of the total financing in the form of investments, direct contributions, credit lines to commercial banks for re-lending to small and medium enterprises, and contributions to the entrepreneurship and innovation sector.