We got the second tranche of funds from the Ras El Hekma agreement: The Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ has delivered the second tranche of the USD 35 bn Ras El Hekma agreement on Sunday, a senior government source confirmed to Enterprise. The tranche consists of USD 14 bn fresh inflows and USD 6 bn in the form of a previous UAE deposit at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

More or less according to plan: We were expecting the funds to land in the state’s coffers between late April and early May. We received the first USD 15 bn tranche of the payment late February, split between USD 10 bn in fresh inflows and USD 5 bn in the form of a previous UAE deposit at the CBE.

The game plan for the funds: Some USD 11 bn of Egypt’s external debt is expected to be written off using funds from the Ras El Hekma agreement. Egypt’s foreign debt hit USD 168 bn during the first half of the current fiscal year, rising USD 3.3 bn compared to the USD 164.7 bn recorded at the end of fiscal year 2022-2023.

Backlogs are also a priority: The CBE is expected to pour USD 6 bn of the Ras El Hekma proceeds into the banking sector, providing sufficient hard cash in the system for banks to help clear arrears and start opening up their FX allocations outside of those importing essential goods.

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