Egypt's Ministry of Finance is set to obtain a conventional and Islamic loan worth a total of $2 billion in order to finance the state's budget and support the Egyptian economy against global market fluctuations amid the COVID-19 crisis, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait announced on Monday. The House of Representatives has approved the facility in its last convocation, which ends in August, according to Maait. The minister added that Emirates NDB Group Company, the banking arm of Emirates NDB, and the First Abu Dhabi Bank (FDB) were the main commissioners and subscription managers that were authorised to seal the deal. Maait said the two entities have launched a public offering to pick out a group of Islamic and conventional financers, stating that the subscription coverage rate recorded 1.7 times the offering value, which pushed the ministry to raise the finance from $1.5 billion to $2 billion, which reflects the regional and international confidence in the Egyptian economy. “This offering proves the success of Egypt's economic program. Egypt's government is working to diversify its finance resources through benefiting from the regional and Islamic finances,” according to Maait. The Finance Minister's Assistant for Economic Affairs Sherine El-Sharkawy said the subscribers included British Standard Chartered Bank, Islamic HSBC, the Arab Banking Corporation (ABC), Japanese Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait, the Islamic Dubai Bank, the Islamic Sharjah Bank, Islamic Emirati Bank, the Italian Intesa Sanpaolo, the Saudi Samba Financial Group and City Bank (NA) and others. CEO of the Emirates NDB Group Company Fahd Abdel-Kader Al-Qassim said the success of the subscription process proves Egypt's positive position among the emerging markets and the increased trust of investors in the Egyptian economy. Managing Director of Emirates NDB Group Company Andy Kernz said that the offering proves the strength of the Egyptian economy. Given that COVID-19 has hit the global economy severely, and consequently the Egyptian economy, Egypt has raised its FY2020/2021 budget to EGP 2.2 trillion, the largest in its history. The crisis inflicted heavy losses on Egypt's FY2019/2020 budget, with the deficit recording EGP 389.1 billion, around $24 billion by the end of May, according to the Ministry of Finance.
