International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced Sunday that its investments to support Egypt’s private sector have amounted to nearly $1 billion during the current fiscal year.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, indicated that Egypt's economic reforms affirmed its commitment to boost the Egyptian economy.
IFC's Chief Business Officer Stephanie von Friedberg met Egypt's delegation headed by Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr, to discuss ways to enhance private sector participation in economic development.
Friedberg said Egypt implemented strong economic reforms that once again drew the interest of investors.
“Reforms in the energy sector, in particular, helped attract a number of first-time investors and financiers to the country. Continuing reforms will help open up more sectors to private investment, which is vital to improve economic growth," she added.
Egypt is one of IFC's largest investment portfolios in the Middle East and North Africa region, with investments of $2.9 billion from 2006 until 2017. IFC’s investments aim to support the private sector in the North African country, create jobs and promote economic growth.
Investments include financial markets, infrastructure, oil and gas, agribusiness, manufacturing and healthcare.
During 2018, IFC led a consortium to finance the construction of 13 solar power plants in Aswan worth $653 million.
The corporation also provided a $100 million loan to help one of Egypt's leading banks to scale up the lending operations to customers and provided $150 million in Islamic financing to al-Marai, a dairy company, to help boost the country's food sector.
