
ABU DHABI SKYLINE/BLOOMBERG
Egypt and the UAE have agreed to set up a $20 billion joint strategic platform to invest in a range of sectors and assets, reported Bloomberg.
The deal follows President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s two-day state visit to the UAE for meeting with officials and marks the latest boost the Arab world’s most populous nation has received from its oil-rich Gulf ally since 2013.
The investment platform will be run through Egypt’s newly established sovereign wealth fund and Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company.
The country had been struggling to revive an economy that had largely stalled in the wake of the 2011 uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak from power after nearly 30 years.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have pumped in billions of dollars in the form of cash deposits and investments into Egypt to help El-Sisi’s government to revive the economy.
Egypt’s new wealth fund is being touted by the government as the latest component of the economic revival. The fund is aimed at helping the state better utilise its assets and to attract foreign investments that have, so far, been overshadowed by an infusion of overseas cash into the local debt market.
The government is currently in talks with the IMF for a new non-loan programme as its previous three-year arrangement winds down. The IMF has urged Egypt to work harder on boosting private-sector growth as a key driver for sustainable development in a nation of 100 million where around half live on or near the poverty line.
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