IDB Seeks Egypt Repayments Before New Islamic Debt Is Issued

The Arab world’s most populous nation got $1.3 billion from IDB, pushing the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia-based multilateral lender beyond a self-imposed limit on how much it can lend. IDB and its units have extended $12.2 billion for projects in Egypt, including the development of an airport and an oil refinery.

“Unless we’re able to expedite completion of the projects, we won’t be able to approve additional ones this year,” Walid Abdelwahab, the IDB’s director of infrastructure, said in an interview at the bank’s head office in Jeddah on April 23. “This is our number one challenge to make sure the projects are implemented on time, not only because it creates headroom for exposure limit, but also it creates results on the ground.”

Egypt’s economy is struggling to recover from the worst slowdown in two decades after two presidents were toppled in the past four years. The country signed a total of $60 billion in deals during an investment conference in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh last month, including $36.2 billion in direct investments, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab said in March.