Saturday, May 12, 2012
BEIRUT (Zawya Dow Jones)--The United States' pledge to relieve Egypt of $1 billion of debt through a swap procedure is delayed for the time being because the two countries differ in their understanding of the swap mechanism, pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat reports Saturday, citing the Egyptian minister of planning and international cooperation.
Discussions are ongoing but nothing has materialized yet because the U.S.' viewpoint on how to deal with the debt swap is dissimilar to Egypt's dealings with Italy or Germany in this regard, Fayza Abul Naga told the paper.
Egypt's external debt fell last year to $33 billion from $35 billion, Abul Naga said on the sidelines of an event to sign three financing agreements with Italy worth a combined $119 million and that include the third tranche--valued at $100 million--of a debt swap with Egypt which thus settles its maturing debt to the Italian government, the daily reports.
Abul Naga also told Asharq Al Awsat that her country has reservations about the financial support proposed through the Deauville Partnership with The Group of Eight, or G8.
Egypt and the other Arab Spring countries were looking forward for additional funding from the Deauville Partnership which only elucidates what a country can get from international, regional, and Arab financial institutions, Abul Naga said. She added that a country can get financial support directly from these institutions without resorting to any partnership, the newspaper reports.
Newspaper website: http://www.aawsat.com//details.asp?section=6&issueno=12219&article=676812&feature=
-By Beirut Bureau, Zawya Dow Jones; +961-1-985 757; BeirutZDJ@zawya.com
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-05-12 0837GMT
