WORLD
UAE sign $500 million agreement to supply wheat to Egypt
![UAE sign $500 million agreement to supply wheat to Egypt](/files/2023/2/1200x630/16921693971728928616_1200x630.jpg)
Baku, August 16, AZERTAC
United Arab Emirates-based agribusiness Al Dahra and the Abu Dhabi Export Board (ADEX) have signed a $500 million agreement to supply Egypt with wheat, starting this year and continuing for the next five years according to i24NEWS.
The agreement, worth $100 million a year, will provide Egypt with imported wheat "at competitive prices."
"The low-cost financing package from ADEX helps us procure high-quality wheat at the lowest cost financing availabl, with comfortable payment terms," Egypt's Supply Minister Ali Moselhy said in a statement.
Egypt, a major commodity buyer, suffered a foreign currency crisis after the war in Ukraine sent shockwaves through its economy.
The Egyptian currency fell by around 50 percent against the dollar, and inflation soared to a record 36.5 percent.
Many recent wheat purchases have been made thanks to loans from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), which last year doubled a credit facility extended to Egypt to $6 billion, and the World Bank, which financed wheat imports earlier this year.
The Ministry of Finance said that funding for food subsidies, mainly bread, would increase by 41.9 percent to 127.7 billion Egyptian pounds ($4.1 billion) in the fiscal year from July 2023 to June 2024.
The Emirati company already supplies the government with locally produced wheat via its Egyptian subsidiary, which farms 28,000 hectares in Egypt.