The African Development Bank (AfDB)’s board has approved payment of a $500 million loan to Egypt, as the second tranche of a 3-year $1.5 billion loan, Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr announced Tuesday.
Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from various lenders to help revive its economy, battered by political and economic upheaval since a 2011 uprising.
The approval sends a strong message that the Egyptian economy is taking steady path towards attaining overall sustainable development, Nasr said in a statement. The minister did not mention any details about the payment receipt date, repayment period, or the agreed interest rate.
Last December, Egypt obtained the first portion of the loan, worth $500 million, as part of a comprehensive programme for economic development, and to support the state budget with $1.5 billion, Daily News Egypt reported.
Nasr told Reuters that the loan was planned to fund numerous projects in Egypt covering various vital sectors, such as social, energy, agriculture, irrigation, transport and airports sectors. In addition to funding the government plan of moving 20 percent of the country’s energy mix to renewable sources by 2025 and industrial zones established by the ministry of trade and industry.
An AfDB official said last year that the agreed funding programme is set to finance 32 mega projects in Egypt, worth $2.23 billion, noting that the loan will be granted on nine soft payments.
President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina announced last February that the bank will offer a $140m fund for Egypt’s new Administrative Capital project.
The African Development Bank is affiliated to the African Development Bank Group, which is the first institution to finance developmental projects in Africa. The group affiliates also include the African Development Fund (AFD) and Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). Egypt is a founding member of the AfDB and is the second largest shareholder of its capital.
Egypt won International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan last November for a three-year, $12 billion bailout programme aimed at reviving a struggling economy, bringing down public debt and controlling inflation while seeking to protect the poor.