CAIRO: Egypt received a $3bn deposit from Qatar on Thursday, a central bank official said yesterday, shoring up finances hit by economic turmoil since a popular uprising that toppled the government two years ago.
The funds will remain with the central bank until Egypt’s Ministry of Finance issues bonds of the same value to Qatar, said the central bank official, who asked not to be named.
The three-year bonds will carry an interest rate of 3.5 percent.
The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani promised the money when Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil visited Qatar on April 10.
Qatar has already lent Egypt $5bn since President Mohammed Mursi took office last July.
Qatar had asked for 5 percent interest and a maturity of 18 months on the funds, but Egypt was negotiating to get the terms improved, an Egyptian official involved in the talks said last month.
Egypt has been asking Arab and Muslim nations for cheap funds to help it to stave off financial collapse after the uprising that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak.
It is negotiating a $4.8bn dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund that would carry an interest rate of only 1.1 percent, but it has balked at the economic policy terms.
Libya deposited $2bn at Egypt’s central bank in April and said it would supply Egypt with $1.2bn worth of crude oil on interest-free credit over one year.
Reuters
