Turkey to Increase $1 bln Credit Line to Egypt by $250 mln

Turkey will increase its $1 billion credit line to Egypt by $250 million, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said on Monday. Turkey was expected to transfer the remaining $1 billion of a $2 billion budget support package agreed last year for Egypt this month.

Under the Egyptian-Turkish agreement, announced last September during a visit to Ankara by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Turkey's treasury loaned Egypt the first $1 billion. Egypt's ailing finances received considerable lifelines from friendly nations in recent weeks in an attempt to shore up the country’s economy. An $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has yet to be signed. The newly appointed minister of finance Fayad Abdel-Moneim said recently that talks between IMF and the Egyptian government are “serious,” and the negotiations with the global lender are ongoing.

Earlier in May, officials said Qatar had deposited $3 billion in the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) for the purpose of buying treasury bonds at the rate of 3.5 percent. Last month, Libya deposited another $2 billion in the CBE which helped Egypt's foreign currency reserves to register their first increase in five months, recording $14.42 billion by the end of April.