(AFP Photo)
The Egyptian government signed three agreements with Saudi Arabia on Saturday in which the latter provides $350m for electricity projects in and commodity export to Egypt, according to Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb.
A cabinet source said that the three agreements included two agreements totalling $100m for the financing of two electricity stations projects in north Egypt, at western Damietta and El-Shabab. A funding agreement has also been reached between a Saudi fund and the General Petroleum Authority, worth $250m of Saudi exports to Egypt.
The source added that the finances are part of the aid package that Saudi Arabia offered to provide to Egypt after the 25 January Revolution. It included soft loans from the Saudi fund worth $500m for financing development projects in Egypt in different sectors. These included housing, water, irrigation, sanitation, supply, electricity, energy, health and a credit line to finance non-oil products worth $750m.
A cabinet statement said that the interest price of these loans is 2% annually, with a repayment period of 20 years, including a five-year grace period.
The electricity stations projects will fulfil the growing demand for electrical energy through, increasing their generation capacity. It will turn El-Shabab Station into a complex, rather than simple, cycle by adding two steam turbines of a 500MW capacity, and an overall capacity of 1500MW.
The Western Damietta Station will be turned into a complex cycle, by adding one steam turbine of a 250MW capacity to become 750MW.
Saudi Arabia had earlier pledged to provide the Egyptian economy with $3.95bn, according to the statement. It has provided $500m as a grant to bridge the budget deficit in May 2011, and a further $500m as treasury bonds and bills in June 2012.
Saudi Arabia has also provided a deposit of $1m to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) in May 2012. A sum of $1.45m was also provided by the Saudi Fund in the Egyptian Development Programme supervised by the Ministry of International Cooperation.
The Kingdom, together with Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, also pledged $12bn in loans, deposits and petroleum shipments right after the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
