Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation, stated that the concessional (soft) development financing agreements signed with multilateral and bilateral development partners for the state’s development sectors and the private sector in 2022 totaled approximately $14 billion.
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According to the minister, the agreements total $11 billion in soft development funds signed with multilateral and bilateral development partners for the benefit of the country’s various development sectors, including $2.4 billion in funds to support the state’s general budget and promote economic reforms such as improving food security and energy subsidy reforms. Social security and comprehensive health insurance will be available until June of next year.
The agreements also include soft development financing for the private sector amounting to about $3 billion from many development partners, including France and the European Union (EU).
Moreover, the full details on financing and beneficiary sectors will be announced in the Ministry of International Cooperation’s annual report for 2022.
In June, the World Bank approved a $500 million new loan to bolster Egypt’s efforts to ensure that poor and vulnerable households have uninterrupted access to bread. The loan helped to strengthen Egypt’s resilience to food crises, and supported reforms in food security policies, including improving nutritional outcomes.