Fresh funds are on their way: The Finance Ministry has secured a USD 500 mn syndicated loan from Deutsche Bank and Bahrain’s Arab Banking Corporation (Bank ABC) to support education and healthcare spending, it said in a statement yesterday.

ICYMI: We first heard about this loan in October from comments by Finance Minister Mohamed Maait to the international press on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank’s annual meeting in Morocco. Following November’s samurai bond issuance and October’s panda bond issuance, the completion of the USD 500 mn loan wraps up the Madbouly government’s target of raising USD 1.5 bn by the end of the year in fresh borrowing that Maait laid out in Marrakech.

What we know about the facility:

  • It’s medium-term, with a seven-year tenor.
  • It’s expensive: We’re reportedly paying 11.1% interest.
  • Half of it is guaranteed:Kuwait’s Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman) is guaranteeing 5.75% of the interest.

Where the money’s going: Renovating classrooms, the universal health ins. system, and upgrading hospitals under Haya Karima, according to a note from the House last month.

Advisors: The Finance Ministry appointed law firm Helmy, Hamza & Partners — Baker McKenzie's Cairo office — as the local legal advisor in the negotiations, while Reed Smith acted as the international legal advisor.

Tags: