The Arab Monetary Fund Extends a New Loan to the Arab Republic of Egypt, Equivalent to US$ 339 Million
Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates - On Sunday, an agreement was signed in Cairo, Egypt whereby the Arab Monetary Fund extended a new loan to the Arab Republic of Egypt, within the framework of the Structural Adjustment Facility, to support a reform program in the financial and banking sector. The loan amounts to Arab Accounting Dinar 78.880 million (equivalent to US$ 339 million). The agreement was signed by H.E. Mr. Hesham Ramez, the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt and H.E. Dr. Abdulrahman Al Hamidy, the Director General Chairman of the Board of the Arab Monetary Fund.
The loan extended to Egypt aims to support the Egyptian central bank's efforts to strength banking supervision and governance, in order to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth and enhance the resilience of the Egyptian economy in face of external shocks. The program 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 financing small and medium size enterprises.
It is worth mentioning that Egypt has benefited from thirteen loans provided by the Arab Monetary Fund, including the present loan, with a total value of US$ 1.6 billion. Moreover, the Fund has provided, through its subsidiary the Arab Trade Financing Program (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$ 1.9 billion by the end of August 2015. This brings the total financial support provided by the Fund to Egypt to about US$ 3.5 billion.
The cooperation between the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and Egypt goes beyond financial aspects, as the AMF offers, through its Economic Policy Institute, and in collaboration with other relevant international organisations, 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 programs and workshops organized by the AMF, covering 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, in addition to supporting the Egyptian government's efforts to enhance financial inclusion.
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© Press Release 2015
