12.39 PM Thursday, 28 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:57 06:11 12:27 15:53 18:37 19:51
28 March 2024

UAE bank, 2 others arrange Dh5.5bn loan for Egypt

National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) along with HSBC and National Bank of Egypt will arrange syndicated loan. (Supplied)

Published
By Reuters

National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) along with HSBC and National Bank of Egypt will arrange a $1.5 billion (Dh5.5 billion) syndicated loan to Egypt’s state oil company in order for the country to pay back foreign energy companies, a statement from the banks said.

Egypt hopes the move will encourage energy firms to boost exploration to help ease the country’s worst energy crisis in decades, with consumption rising as production is dropping.

“Disbursement of the loan will start before the end of December 2014, with each bank having a share of $500 million,” Hisham Okasha, CEO of National Bank of Egypt, told Reuters by telephone.

Egypt said earlier this month that it planned to issue a tender to finance $2bn of repayments by the end of the year and that it plans to repay all of its $4.9bn debt to foreign oil and gas companies within six months.

Egypt has delayed payments to oil and gas firms as its economy has been hammered by almost three years of instability since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak.
Arrears began to accumulate before the ousting, but worsening state finances saw the debts mount to billions of dollars while the government diverted gas earmarked for export to meet domestic demand.