Egyptian Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait (social networking sites)

Today, Sunday, Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait expected that Egypt would receive $3 billion in financing from the World Bank, as part of a financing package from the International Monetary Fund for the country with an expected value of $20 billion.

Maait explained that in addition to the IMF loan that was agreed upon a few days ago for $8 billion, Egypt will receive about $3 billion from the World Bank, in addition to support from the European Union and other development partners.

Maait said, in a press conference today, that Egypt expects to achieve a primary surplus of no less than 3.5% in the fiscal year that begins on July 1.

He added that Egypt aims to keep the debt ratio below 90% of GDP.

The primary surplus means revenues minus expenses and excluding debt service provisions.

The Egyptian minister pointed out that his country achieved a primary budget surplus for the first 8 months of the current fiscal year, which ends next June, at a value of 193 billion pounds ($3.9 billion), compared to about 41.8 billion pounds ($844 million) in the corresponding period of the year. Past financials.

The fiscal year in Egypt begins at the beginning of July of each year, until the end of June of the following year, according to the general budget law in the country.

The minister added that the deal to develop Ras El Hekma city will support part of the financing of the state’s general budget through a tranche in Egyptian pounds, in addition to supporting Egypt’s foreign reserves at the Central Bank.

He continued, "Today we are targeting public investments worth one trillion pounds ($20.2 billion) during the next fiscal year 2024-2025."

Regarding the IMF loan, Maait said that the term of the loan is 3 years, worth $8 billion. The first tranche of the IMF loan will be disbursed following the approval of the Fund’s Executive Council during the coming period.

The minister's statements came four days after Egypt reduced the value of its currency to about 50 pounds to the dollar from 30.85 pounds, and raised key overnight interest rates by 600 basis points, in addition to announcing an expanded financial support agreement worth $8 billion with the International Monetary Fund.

Thus, the interest on overnight lending increased to 28.25% and on overnight deposits to 27.25%, as part of his decision to accelerate the monetary restriction process in order to accelerate inflation’s arrival on its downward path.

Part of the signing of the Ras El Hekma agreement (social networking sites)

The head of wisdom

The rapid developments in the Egyptian economy come against the backdrop of the investment deal that Egypt reached with the UAE in late February to establish a tourist urban complex in Ras El Hekma on the northwestern coast of Egypt.

The Egyptian Council of Ministers announced earlier this month that it had received the first installment of the investment partnership deal with the Emirates for the Ras El Hekma City development project, worth $10 billion.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that measures are being taken to transfer an additional $5 billion from the UAE deposit to the Central Bank, within the terms agreed upon in the deal.

Madbouly explained that within two months, Egypt will receive the remaining amount that was announced, to complete the amount of $35 billion in direct investment entering the state from this deal, in addition to the 35% that it will receive from the project’s profits.

He added that Egypt also received a payment worth $520 million as part of the “hotel deal” recently signed by the Egyptian government.

Last December, the Egyptian government agreed to sell shares in 7 historic hotels in Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, and Aswan to ICON, ADQ, and Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company for a value of $800 million.

Source: Al Jazeera + Reuters