World Bank (WB) agreed to give Egypt a $3bn loan to support its economic development and state budget and to increase its portfolio to $6bn instead of $5bn, according to Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr. The WB board made their agreement on Thursday hours after Nasr singing the final agreement with AfDB and will grant the loan of $1.5bn over three years, about $500m every year. The total amount of WB and AfDB loans is $4.5bn. The WB agreement on the loan is considered a trust certificate for the Egyptian economic program in general. "These funds come in the form of soft loans at an interest rate of 1.68% with a grace period of five years," Nasr said. "The repayment period is 35 years." The loan will provide hard currency to Egypt in this critical time to support the cash reserve balance to support economic development efforts and financing the government's programme. The final agreement signature will take place on 19 December with the presence of Prime Minister Sherif Ismail.
