CBE receives nearly $1B from China Development Bank

China Development Bank (CDB) announced on October 31, 2023 that it has deposited to the Central Bank of Egypt a total amount equivalent to around $956.61 million. The deposit is part of a loan agreement signed during the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) summit held in Beijing. This sum will be used to finance various projects that were agreed during the summit as well as the nine key programs discussed in the Africa-China Cooperation forum in 2021. The Beijing-based bank believes that this move will stimulate the deep integration of the BRI project and Egypt's Vision 2030. It is also intended to promote financial momentum to boost economic, trade, and financial cooperation between China and Egypt. At the end of the third quarter of 2023, the CDB had issued a total of over $6.48 billion worth of loans to Egypt. This sum includes a line of credit worth $1 billion and loans for small and medium-sized enterprises through the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr. The bank also financed the electricity transmission network in Egypt with 500-kilowatt capacity. The bank aims to increase financial cooperation with Egypt as Egypt became a new member of BRICS and is seen as a key African country in China's BRI. Expansion of this cooperation hopes to yield positive results in production capacity, cross-border RMB cooperation, and other avenues.