Egypt negotiating $4 bln loan from China for its renewable energy strategy

By Yomna Yasser On Sep 21, 2016

Egypt is currently negotiating a $4 billion loan from China to finance the country’s renewable energy strategy, an official from the international cooperation ministry announced Tuesday.

“China has shown readiness to provide the fund,” Shehab Marzban, the deputy minister for economic affairs, told Ahram Online on the sidelines of the Euromoney Egypt conference.

According to Marzban, the loan will finance renewable energy projects to generate a total of one gigawatt of electricity. One of the projects will be a solar cells factory.

Last month, the Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr said that Egypt is discussing a $1 billion fund from China to finance local sanitation projects.

In January, the Egyptian government announced during the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Cairo a finance package from China worth $15 billion – including commercial and soft loans – for FX reserves support and projects in energy, transport and sanitation.

Part of this package is expected to be invested in the infrastructure of Egypt’s planned new administrative capital.

Source: Ahram Online