Egyptian president’s effort to hunt monetary assist from the oil-rich kingdom comes as his nation’s forex faces new stress after already dropping practically half its worth in opposition to the greenback since March 2022.
(Reuters)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi visited Saudi Arabia, Saudi state information company SPA reported on Monday, as Cairo seeks monetary inflows to ease stress on its forex and bolster a faltering economic system.
The go to comes amid a significant diplomatic realignment within the area, with strikes by Saudi Arabia and Egypt to ease tensions with Syria, Iran and Türkiye.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has lengthy supplied monetary assist to Egypt however lately signalled it might now not present such backing with out situations connected, which observers suppose could have sparked a uncommon media conflict between the 2 nations.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the dominion’s de facto ruler, met on Sunday with Sisi on the Saudi Purple Sea metropolis of Jeddah, the place they mentioned bilateral ties and regional developments, SPA reported.
Different Saudi and Egyptian officers, together with Saudi nationwide safety adviser Musaad bin Mohammed al Aiban and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, attended the assembly, it added.
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Saudi Arabia and its some Gulf allies have repeatedly come to Egypt’s assist since Sisi led the ouster of the previous president Mohamed Morsi a decade in the past.
When Egypt’s monetary difficulties have been uncovered and exacerbated by the fallout from the warfare in Ukraine final yr, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar made deposits in Egypt’s central financial institution and pledged main new investments.
However these investments have been gradual to materialise, placing new stress on the Egyptian pound in latest weeks regardless of the forex’s dropping practically half its worth in opposition to the greenback since March 2022.
Egypt signed a $3 billion rescue plan with the Worldwide Financial Fund in December that focused $9.7 billion in overseas direct funding within the monetary yr ending in June 2023.
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Supply: TRTWorld and companies