The European Union (EU) has provided Egypt with €756m in support, mainly through the European Neighbourhood Instrument in the period between 2014 and 2020, according to an EU press statement on Wednesday.
The EU said that, since 2008, Egypt has been a beneficiary of the Neighbourhood Investment Platform, which leveraged €7bn in concessional loans from European Financial Institutions.
This has been combined with public and private sector financing for projects in the renewable energy, energy efficiency, irrigation, water and wastewater management, transport, financial inclusion sectors. Financing has also gone to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), alongside education.
The EU is Egypt’s main trading partner, and in 2019, accounted for a 23% share of Egypt’s total imports, and a 31% share of Egypt’s exports.
Also in 2019, the EU-Egypt two-way trade in goods amounted to €27.4bn. In 2018, trade in services between the EU and Egypt amounted to €9.8bn, while EU Foreign Direct Investments (FID) stocks in Egypt amounted to €38.2bn.
Egyptian FDI stocks in the EU amounted to €1.1bn in the same year, whilst EU FDI flows to Egypt stood at €500m, in addition to Egyptian FDI flows to the EU totalling €100m.
The EU statement noted that projects under the North of Africa window of the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF Africa) in Egypt, amounted to €89m.
“Egypt benefits from EU thematic programmes and instruments, such as the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, the Civil Society Organisations and Local Authorities programme under the Development Cooperation Instrument, the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) and Horizon 2020,” the statement read.
Regarding the response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the EU Commission mobilised €265m through its different instruments to support immediate, health-related and socio-economic needs in Egypt.
Out of this, Egypt benefits from the EUTF Africa €10m regional emergency response programme to the coronavirus in North Africa. Targeted assistance will be provided to vulnerable migrants and refugees, including by supporting Egyptian institutions and civil society organisations.
