Egypt Eyes €135 mln Loans from French Development Agency

Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Naglaa El-Ahwany is holding talks with the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement AFD) to get new loans totalling €135 million.

Out of €135 million loans, Egypt is seeking to obtain a €70 million financing from the AFD to fund the project of delivering natural gas to homes across the country.

The negotiations also involve obtaining a €50 million loan from the French agency to finance the third phase of the Environmental Pollution Abatement Project. In addition, Egypt is aiming to get a €15 million grant in favour of the Egyptian Social Fund for Development (SFD) in addition to other projects in areas of renewable and new energies and transportation.

In this respect, the Egyptian minister has received AFD’s new director, reviewing means of bilateral cooperation between Egypt and the agency.

Since inception in January 2007, AFD has so far financed a number of pivotal projects in Egypt at total value of €680.7 million, including €676 million in loans and €4.7 million in grants.

Among projects financed by the AFD in Egypt are €80 million loan for SFD’s small and micro-sized projects, €30 million loan for small and medium agricultural projects, the project to improve drinking water and sanitation services (€40 million loan for Phase I and €57 million for Phase II), the Cairo Metro project’s third line (€300 million loan for Phase III and €44 million for Phase II), and €40 million for the Industrial Pollution Control Project – Phase II.