Egypt, World Bank Sign $500 M Loan Deal

Egypt and the World Bank signed an agreement on a $500 million loan to support a government project for affordable housing, State-owned news agency MENA reported on Wednesday.

The loan will be used to develop the Social Housing Fund and to subsidise mortgages for low-income earners, reported MENA.

The project, which was unveiled late 2014, aims to build one million residential units across the country for low-income earners.

The units are being built in new urban communities to house low and medium-income Egyptians, who are to benefit from a subsidy of LE5,000 to LE25,000 on each unit, through the World Bank loan, according to a housing ministry statement released in May.

Up to 170,000 housing units are to be built by the end of 2015 as part of the project, according to the statement.

Source: Ahram Online