CAIRO - Egypt and the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation ​signed a $1.5 ⁠billion loan agreement on Wednesday to support food and ‌energy security in the north African country.

Since 2008, the ITFC has approved ​over $24 billion in funding for Egypt to finance the energy sector, ​contribute to food security, ​and support small and medium-sized enterprises, ITFC CEO Adib Youssef al Aama said during the signing ⁠ceremony.

This includes $8.8 billion in funding to the General Authority for Supply Commodities to support Egypt's imports of food commodities, most notably about 12.6 million tons of wheat.

The ITFC also ​supported Egypt ‌with foreign oil ⁠companies arrears that ⁠the government has pledged to completely pay off by the end ​of June.

Egypt has a long-standing bread ‌subsidy scheme that costs upwards of $2.6 billion ⁠annually and is relied upon by an estimated 70 million citizens, making the country one of the world's largest importers of wheat.

Last week, the government announced it may end its current subsidies programme and replace it with cash transfers starting from July.

The loan comes as Egypt's economy absorbs the shockwaves of the war in Iran, piling fresh ‌pressure on a country still navigating a fragile ⁠reform path under its $8 billion IMF programme.

The ​war has cast an immediate shadow over Egypt's precarious economic stability, which remains heavily reliant on hot money inflows as a ​source of ‌financing and gas imports as a key ⁠source of energy.

(Reporting by Mohamed ​Ezz; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Keith Weir)