Egypt’s Sisi heads to Saudi Arabia amid monetary stress, regional realignment

CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is travelling to Saudi Arabia on Sunday, in line with three diplomatic sources, as Cairo continues to hunt monetary inflows to ease stress on its forex and bolster a faltering financial system.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has lengthy supplied monetary help to Egypt however lately signalled it might now not present such backing with out strings connected, which observers assume might have sparked a uncommon media conflict between the 2 international locations.

The journey additionally comes amid a serious diplomatic realignment within the area, with strikes by Saudi Arabia and Egypt to ease tensions with Syria, Iran and Turkey.

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There was no instant official remark from Egypt or Saudi Arabia on the go to.

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have repeatedly come to Egypt’s assist since Sisi led the ouster of Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood a decade in the past.

When Egypt’s monetary difficulties had been uncovered and exacerbated by the fallout from the battle in Ukraine final 12 months, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar made deposits in Egypt’s central financial institution and pledged main new investments.

However these investments have been gradual to materialise, placing new stress on the Egyptian pound in latest weeks regardless of the forex dropping practically half its worth towards the greenback since March 2022.

Egypt signed a $3 billion rescue plan with the Worldwide Financial Fund in December that focused $9.7 billion in international direct funding within the monetary 12 months ending in June 2023.