Arab Monetary fund loan offers Egypt 244 million

The Arab monetary fund yesterday announced giving Egypt a long-term loan estimated at 244 million diollars aims at supporting economic reforms carried out by the Egyptian authorities.

An official statement by the Fund, which takes Abu Dhabi as a headquarters, said that the governor of the central bank of Egypt, Farouk a-Iqda, and the chairman of the Fund's board, Jasem al-Menai, signed the loan agreement in Cairo in the presence of the Egyptian prime minister Atef Obeid.

He added that the loan will help the Egyptian authorities to implement reform plans, aiming at achieving high growth and sustainable rates, creating work opportunities, and raising the living standards of the population.

The fund's statement added that the loan supported economic reform program, includes several measures aiming at developing the monetary policy and improving its efficiency, making more reforms, and improvement to the banking system, and enhancing and strengthening the general financing status and reforms in the foreign trade area.

By this new loan to Egypt, the number of loans provided by the Fund to Egypt so far reached 9 loans of a total value of 751 million dollars.

The statement said that cooperation relations between Egypt and the Arab Monetary Fund is not only limited to the financing aspect, as the fund also contributes to ensuring training opportunities for official Egyptian technical personnel working the financial, technical and statistical areas.

Moreover, the Arab trade financing program, which affiliates to the Fund, contributes to ensuring letters of credit for Egypt's trade with the Arab states and other world countries.

The program provides some 20 Egyptian national agencies some 46 letter of credits of a total value of 677 million dollars.