EU pledges Egypt €1 billion in financial aid

CAIRO – 12 April 2024: The EU pledged, Friday to provide Egypt with €1 billion in short-term financial aid to help stabilize the country's economy.

The 1 billion euros in short-term aid is part of a bigger package worth 5 billion euros in loans, the statement said. Another 4 billion euros were scheduled as longer-term assistance over the period 2024-2027, but still had to be adopted by the bloc's 27 members.

Earlier on March, The Delegation of the European Union to Egypt issued a press statement - in tandem with holding the EU-Egypt Summit in Cairo – on a proposed bundle of financial support and investments worth €7.4 billion for the period 2024-2027 in the framework of bolstering relations to the strategic level.

The bundle consists of €600 million in grants, including €200 million to migration management. That is in addition to €5 billion in soft loans and €1.8 billion in investments.

The statement highlighted the EU's six priorities in its ties with Egypt, and that are political relations, economic stability, trade and investment reinforcement, migration management, security, and capacity-building of human resources.

The delegation also noted that the Southern Neighborhood Economic and Investment Plan prioritizes energy transition as well as consolidating water, food and energy security, which is aligned with Egypt's climate strategy.

On the front of food security, the European Commission had already financed Egypt with €100 million to enlarge grain storage and production mitigating the impact of the Russia-Ukraine War.

In the near future, the EU will assist Egypt with expanding and modernizing the wastewater treatment plant in Cairo's Helwan as well as renovating the infrastructure of wastewater and sanitation services in Fayoum governorate.