EBRD to approve financing for Egypt before end of month

Before end of November, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will either approve or reject proposal to provide Egypt with financing The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will decide on a proposal to provide Egypt with financing before the end of November, the bank stated on Monday. The bank's board of directors has issued a proposal to its board of governors to inject funds into Egypt, a final decision on which is expected to be taken before 26 November. In the event approval is secured, Egypt will become eligible to receive financing from the EBRD. EBRD could invest up to 2.5 billion euros ($3.2 bn) a year in the southern and eastern Mediterranean region by 2015, according to a Monday statement by the bank. "A significant share of this amount would go to Egypt, expected to be the largest recipient of EBRD investments in the region," the statement read. The first financing project is set to be approved before the end of this year, pending approval by the bank's board of governors. The EBRD was established in 1991 to help post-communist countries in Russia and Eastern Europe develop market economies. The bank extended its mandate last year to invest in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia following the so-called Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa region. EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti visited Cairo earlier this week to discuss the bank's future activities in the country, during which he met with President Mohamed Morsi and Prime Minister Hisham Qandil. In September, the bank announced its first investments in Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. From ahramonline