Egypt has financed 2,176 projects in 27 governorates since 2013 through a Saudi Arabian grant worth $200 million. The projects have generated 12,000 jobs in the Egyptian market, Minister of International Cooperation Rania El-Mashat said on Thursday. El-Mashat made her comments during an online meeting with the director-general of operation and head of the Saudi Grant Management Committee at the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) Hassan Al-Attas. El-Mashat said the committee's projects in Egypt have helped in achieving the sustainable development goals, asserting the necessity of the funds extended by the committee to finance the small and medium-sized projects in Egypt over the coming period. She also stressed the promising future of the projects in light of the People, Projects, and Purpose narrative that the ministry has launched recently with the aim of shedding light on developmental partnership. The committee's future funds are expected to focus on small projects and innovative enterprises in the neediest governorates in Upper Egypt, according to El-Mashat. Al-Attas said the Saudi's SFD projects will increase in the coming period as the committee plays a role in enhancing developmental cooperation between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The Grant Committee Management is affiliated to the SFD and is a managing committee for financing small and medium-sized projects in Egypt in 2013. The SFD's capital is worth $31 billion, introducing total funding of $61 billion to 83 beneficiary countries, including Egypt. Amid the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent implications on the global economy, Egypt has expanded its partnerships and cooperation with global and regional institutions to receive facilities and loans to deal with the likely impacts of the pandemic on its economy and to maintain the gains of its economic reform programme. Saudi Arabia's direct investment in Egypt witnessed a drop by 43.3 percent during the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2019/2020, recording $69.3 million, down from $122.4 million during the same period of FY 2018/2019, according to the Central Bank of Egypt's latest data announced in January 2020.
