The Council of Ministers announced that the World Bank has approved a $50 million loan that Egypt would obtain through the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to face the repercussions of the corona pandemic.

The Ministry of International Cooperation said that the loan is the maximum available under the rapid financing instrument compared to the population census, which was set by the World Bank.

Countries with a population of 20 million get $20 million, populations of 50 million get $35 million, and a population of 100 million would get $50 million.

The ministry announced that the loan will contribute to the purchase of medical equipment and supplies and training medical staff to work in quarantine and isolation utilities, strengthening the system of investigating and tracking contacts of corona cases, developing platforms and tools that provide content and improving public awareness of the epidemic.

On March 20, the World Bank announced it was offering a loan of $500 million to Egypt, while Egypt last week received a $2.77 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, and according to Bloomberg, it is trying to get another $9 billion.

The volume of external debt owed by Egypt increased to about $112.67 billion at the end of December 2019, compared to $96.61 billion at the end of December of 2018, achieving an increase of 16.6 per cent, amounting to $16.1 billion on an annual basis.