(Abdelazim Saafan/DNE Photo)
By Lamia Nabil
There are currently no Libyan deposits at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), said a media spokesperson at the CBE.
“No Libyan deposits have as of yet reached us,” the spokesperson confirmed.
It was reported on Saturday that Libya had deposited $2bn at the CBE, with the governor of Libya’s Central Bank announcing to Reuters that the amount would be deducted from Libyan investments currently in Egypt.
He added that the amount was “a deposit and not a loan”, and that Libya’s total investments in Egypt had reached $10bn. “These are currently in the banking sector, the property sector, and others,” he said.
According to state-run news agency MENA, an official from the Ministry of Finance said that a $2bn loan agreement between the two countries was agreed on Wednesday evening, repayable in five years and with a grace period of three years.
Head of the Egyptian-Libyan Businessmen’s Association (ELBA) Nasser Al-Bayan said that Libyan support for the Egyptian economy comes “as confirmation of the long relationship between the two countries”.
“There was a meeting yesterday between Egyptian businessmen and their Libyan counterparts in order to discuss new methods of mutual cooperation between our two countries,” he said. “Our main target sectors in Egypt are the infrastructure and construction sectors.”
“Libyan investors are definitely interested in the Egyptian market,” he added. “We are planning to organise a large conference between the two sides, but we still haven’t decided whether the Libyan businessmen will visit Egypt, or vice versa.”
Al-Bayan also said that Libyan investors were still committed to Egyptian workers “as the Egyptian worker are the most qualified to bear the working conditions in Libya”.
“The majority of Egyptian cooperation with Libya lies in exporting goods, labour and expertise, and in some Egyptian companies executing various projects,” he continued.
He also said that Libyan businessmen denied any relation between Libyan financial support to Egypt and any political issues, especially regarding former Gaddafi aide Ahmed Kaddaf al-Dam.
