Egypt seeks to get $5B loans for development of Sinai

CAIRO - 17 May 2018: The Egyptian government is negotiating to get $5 billion loans from the World Bank and Arabic Funds to finance the development in Sinai, informed sources told Al-Mal newspaper.

The sourced clarified that the targeted loans are divided into $4 billion loans from the Arabic Funds and a $1 billion loan from the World Bank.

They added that all ministries that are involved in the project, headed by ministries of housing, and investment and international cooperation, are coordinating together to specify the projects of the highest priority.

During attending the 2018 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group, Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr started the negotiations of a $1 billion loan with the World Bank for the development of Sinai.

In March, Nasr signed five agreements with Kuwait Fund for Development's General Director Abdel Wahab al-Badr, with a total value of KWD 86.1 million ($287 million/LE 5 billion) to finance Sinai development.

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group has also allocated $3 billion over three years for its new cooperation strategy with Egypt (2018-2020), which will support a number of development projects in Egypt.

On March 5, Egyptian Federation of Investors Associations (EFIA) Chairman, Farid Khamis, donated LE 20 million for developing Sinai, as a first tranche of a donation worth LE 100 million, to be paid within a year.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said in February that developing Sinai costs LE 275 billion, most of which was financed by loans from Arabic funds, headed by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Egypt has put forward a plan to develop Sinai, which started in 2014 and will continue until 2022