Egypt expects to receive $400 million in budget aid from the UK over the next two years

Egypt expects to receive $400 million in budgetary aid from the United Kingdom over the next two years, Bloomberg reported on Monday, April 22, 2024, citing Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat (photo).

“This sum will be added to the budgetary support from the World Bank, which is part of a three-year program of 6 billion dollars already announced,” declared the minister on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and of the World Bank which are held in Washington.

“Egypt hopes to receive the first tranches of $200 million from the United Kingdom and $500 million from the multilateral financial institution by next July. Similar tranches will be disbursed during the following fiscal year,” she added.

Faced with financial difficulties following the shocks linked to the covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas, the most populous country in the Arab world has already obtained funding of a cumulative amount of around $57 billion from international financial institutions and its regional allies to revive its bloodless economy.

More than half of this overall sum comes from an agreement with the United Arab Emirates announced in February 2024 and presented as the largest foreign investment ever made in Egypt. The $35 billion deal allowed Cairo to float its currency, a long-awaited reform that in turn facilitated the release of additional financing from the IMF, European Union, World Bank and other institutions.