Arab Monetary Fund lends $339 million loan to Egypt

Manama

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) yesterday extended a new loan of US$339 million to Egypt to support a reform programme in the financial and banking sector, within the framework of Structural Adjustment Facility.

The agreement was signed by the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Hesham Ramez, and the Director General Chairman of the Board of the AMF Dr. Abdulrahman Al Hamidy.

The loan aims to support the Egyptian central bank’s efforts to strengthen banking supervision and governance, to achieve sustainable economic growth and also to enhance the resilience of the Egyptian economy in face of external shocks. 

The programme is composed of three pillars: developing the government financial securities depository system, strengthening the banking sector’s efficiency, and enhancing the role of the credit guarantee company to support  small and medium size enterprises. 

It is worth mentioning, Egypt has benefited from thirteen loans from the Arab Monetary Fund, including the present one, with a total value of US$1.6 billion. Moreover, the Fund has provided, through its subsidiary the Arab Trade Financing Programme (ATFP), lines of credit to 21 national agencies in Egypt to finance intra Arab trade activities. 

The ATFP signed 104 credit line agreements with these agencies, valued at US$1.9bn by the end of August. This brings the total financial support provided by the Fund to Egypt to about US$3.5bn. 

The cooperation between the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and Egypt goes beyond financial aspects, as the AMF offers, through its Economic Policy Institute, opportunities for capacity building for Egyptian government officials affiliated to monetary, fiscal and statistical government organizations. 

So far, 533 Egyptian trainees have participated in the training programmes and workshops organised by the AMF, covering a wide range in economic, banking, monetary and fiscal areas. 

Egypt has also benefited from the technical assistance provided by the AMF within the framework of its various initiatives that aim to develop the financial sector in its member countries. 

In this regard, the AMF has provided, in cooperation with international financial institutions, technical assistance to Egypt to develop payment and settlement systems, credit information systems and secured lending systems, besides supporting the Egyptian government’s efforts to enhance financial inclusion.