Egyptian banks to fund major power deal

CAIRO: Six Egyptian banks have reached a deal to fund an electricity generation project worth 3 billion Egyptian pounds ($405 million), the state news agency MENA reported on Thursday.

The deal was led by the National Bank of Egypt, Egypt's largest commercial bank, MENA said. Under the terms of the agreement, the production capacity of power stations in the towns of Helwan and Assiut will rise to 2,600 megawatts.

MENA quoted Mahmoud Muntasir, vice president of the National Bank of Egypt, as saying the deal marked one of the largest transactions between Egyptian banks and power companies. The Arab world's most populous country faces its worst energy crisis in decades.

One of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's biggest challenges is tackling power cuts and fuel shortages; the same issues plagued former president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood and helped to spur protests that enabled the army to oust him.