Egypt Seeks to Boost Cooperation with Islamic Development Bank

Egypt Seeks to Boost Cooperation with Islamic Development Bank

Egypt is seeking the Islamic Development Bank to support its exports. (EPA)

Egypt is seeking to deepen ties with the Islamic Development Bank, announced Minister of Planning and Economic Development Dr. Hala el-Saeed.

Saeed is the governor of Egypt at the Islamic Development Bank group.

She stressed the need to benefit from the capabilities of the Islamic institution in supporting Egyptian exports and exporters to open new markets to their products.

Saeed is hoping to overcome challenges faced by export operations to foreign markets, especially Africa.

She made her remarks during a meeting with Oussama Abdel Rahman Kaissi, CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC).

Separately, the Monetary Policy Committee of Egypt's Central Bank (CBE) kept its deposit rate at 8.25 percent on Thursday and its lending rate at 9.25 percent, the fifth consecutive month it left them unchanged.

Egypt's annual general urban inflation rate rose to 4.8 percent in May 2021 from 4.1 percent in April, after having decelerated from 4.5 percent in March 2021.

The central bank expects inflation rates to continue to be affected by unfavorable base effects in the near term.

Preliminary data indicate annual real GDP growth of 2.9 percent during the first quarter of 2021, up