Prime Minister Hesham Qandil commenced the signing a Murabha agreement Wednesday that would see the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (IITFC), a branch of the Islamic Development Bank, provide $265m in funding to Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).
This raises the amount of money provided to the EGPC by the IITFC since October 2012, to nearly $500m.
The agreement was signed by Sharif Hadara, new head of the EGPC, and Walid Al-Wahib, Executive President of the IITFC.
This agreement represented the second installment of a previous agreement signed between the two parties on July 1, 2012, which stipulated the that IITFC would provide the EGPC with funding totaling $1bn.
The signing ceremony was attended by Egypt’s Finance Minister Al-Morsy Al-Hijazi, Osama Kamal, Egypt’s Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister, Ashraf al-Arabi, Minister of Planning and International Co-operation, Walid al-Wahib, Executive President of the IITFC, and Zinhum Zahran, Executive Direct of the Islamic Development Bank.
Hijazi stated that this deal was a part of another $2.2bn agreement signed between the IITFC and the Egyptian government back earlier in 2012, which sought to help the government secure and distribute a larger number of basic goods and necessities to its citizens. This would include petroleum products, wheat and other foodstuffs. He added that the government was also currently negotiating with the Islamic Development Bank to obtain more funding for a series of new infrastructure projects.
He further went on to say that these agreements reflected the confidence felt by regional and international institutions regarding the Egyptian government’s ability to abide by its international obligations by their designated deadlines.
