Egypt signs financial agreements with Germany worth €112 million

Egypt has signed two agreements with Germany worth €112 million ($125 million), Anadolu Agency has reported. The first is for a soft loan worth €47 million ($52.5 million) and the second is a €65 million grant ($72.5 million).

In a press release issued on Sunday, Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr, said that the agreements are aimed at developing the skills of young people in all sectors, financing a number of important projects through support for small and medium-sized enterprises, women’s empowerment, slum development and improving public services. Germany’s Ambassador Georg Luy said that the signing of the two agreements comes within the framework of strengthening relations between Berlin and Cairo.

Egypt’s general budget for the next fiscal year, which begins on 1 July, shows a current deficit worth more than $30 billion, according to Ministry of Finance data. Domestic and foreign debt totals $259 billion.

Speaking more broadly, the ambassador said that Germany is among those countries which support tourism in Egypt, especially in the Red Sea resort of Sharm Al-Sheikh. Berlin, he pointed out, did not warn German tourists not to travel there. Ever since a Russian aircraft crashed in the Sinai Peninsula last October, killing all 224 people on board, a number of European countries have warned their citizens not to travel to Egypt for tourism purposes.