Cairo: Egyptian authorities plan to hold talks with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to secure more aid and investments, a government official said, as the country seeks to ease a dollar crunch threatening to derail its nascent economic recovery.
The planned talks will focus on “areas of cooperation” including investments, development aid and foreign-exchange deposits at the central bank, as well the supply of oil and non- oil products, according to the official, who asked not to be named to discuss the plan. The official didn’t say when the talks will start or how much Egypt aims to secure.
The three Gulf Arab monarchies have provided tens of billions of dollars to support the Egyptian economy since the 2013 army-led dismissal of President Mohammad Mursi after mass protests against his one-year rule. While officials in the three countries regularly hail ties with Egypt, it’s not clear how much more aid they can extend at a time when the plunge in oil prices and the war in Yemen strain their public finances.
Stocks
Egypt faces a foreign-currency squeeze that caused private- sector business activity to contract the most in more than two years in November, according to the Emirates NBD Purchasing Managers Index. Egypt’s benchmark EGX 30 Index for stocks has dropped 26 per cent this year, making it the fifth-worst performer among global equity measures tracked by Bloomberg.
Egyptian authorities have burnt through billions in foreign currency reserves since 2011 to prop up the pound and maintain spending. Reserves stood at $16.4 billion (Dh60 billion) at the end of November, enough to cover about three months of imports. The government is expected to receive $1.5 billion this month after signing loan agreements with the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
