The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) signs a us$400 million framework agreement for cooperation with Egypt to support its food and energy requirements

The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB), signed a Framework agreement for cooperation with the Government of Arab Republic of Egypt. This agreement aims to finance the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and the General Authority of Supply Commodities (GASC) an amount of US$ 400 million annually for three years. The Agreement was signed by HE Mrs. Faiza Abou el-Naga, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation on behalf of the Government of Egypt and ITFC’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Waleed Al-Wohaib. The signing ceremony was attended by HE Dr. Kamal Ganzouri Egyptian Prime Minister and the Ministers of Finance, Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Supply and Internal Trade, Heads of EGPC and GASC as well as representatives from ITFC.

The allocated amount will be utilized to finance the import of petroleum and petroleum products, in addition to the import of strategic commodities namely wheat and foodstuff. This agreement has signed off a total amount of US$1.6 billion provided to the country since inception of ITFC.

Through providing Shariah Compliant Trade Financing, ITFC is keen to support the Egyptian strategic commodities such as wheat and oil.  From his end, Dr. Waleed Al-Wohaib said that “ITFC is continuously trying to align its support with the Trade Development Programs prepared for our member countries, which are implemented to ensure the achievement of maximum developmental impact. This is reflected in most of ITFC’s trade financing operations supporting these 2 strategic commodities (food and energy) which are considered as priority sectors for the Egyptian Government.” He went on to add that “this operation contributes in accomplishing the aim of increasing the intra-trade among the OIC member countries”.

Since inception in 2008, the ITFC had already approved more than US$1.2 billion in favor of the Egyptian governmental bodies and private companies operating in strategic sectors such as food, petroleum and gas. ITFC also approved three Murabaha structured trade finance operations recently with a total amount of US$50 million in favor of the private companies engaged in importing wheat, corn and soy; in which part of that funding is used to support the animal feed industry. In addition, ITFC provided US$10 million in favor of the Social Fund for Development to finance the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt.