World Bank praises Egypt's reform plan: Minister

CAIRO - 3 October 2017: President of the World Bank Group (WBG) Jim Yong Kim has praised the economic reform steps taken by Egypt in a symposium organized by the bank in Washington D.C. Monday, Minister of International Cooperation and Investment Sahar Nasr said.

In a Tuesday statement, Nasr said that Kim asked WBG officials to replicate the experience of the bank with Egypt with other developing countries.
The WBG has contributed a total of $4 billion to Egypt’s energy sector over the past three years; around $3 billion of them is for supporting economic reform plans, according to Nasr.

She added that the rest is divided over $635 million in investments from the global private sector, with the participation of the International Financial Corporation (IFC), to build the largest solar complex in Aswan governorate.

Also more than $200 million were given as financial guarantees for the same project from the WBG-affiliated Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. An additional $150 million were directly invested by the group in the oil and gas sector.

Egypt’s portfolio with the WBG stood at $8 billion, including $2 billion allocated for the private sector, according to previous official statements.