From Ahram.

Egypt signed a $500 million agreement with the Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank to fund the country’s exports to African countries, said Tarek Kabil, minister of industry and foreign trade, in a press release.

Egypt plans to establish five new commercial bureaus in Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, and Djibouti.

The Cairo-based Bank proposed in November to arrange up to $1 billion in funds, underwriting $500 million for the country’s central bank to improve foreign currency liquidity, Afreximbank said on its official website.

Through this program the bank will support Egyptian companies in the process of export. The bank could also double the funding to $1 billion if the first round proves successful, said Benedict Oramah, head of Afreximbank, in a press release.

Egypt faces a foreign currency crunch since tourism and foreign direct investments, its main sources of foreign currency, were hit in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

The Arab country signed last week a $1 billion loan deal with the World Bank as part of a $3 billion loan dispersed over three years, representing an alternative to fading Arab gulf aid.

Three major African regional economic committees — Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East Africa Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) — agreed in June to form the continent’s largest free trade area encompassing 51 percent of Africa’s $2.3 trillion gross domestic product.

The deal gives Egypt free trade access to seven new African nations.

Read more at Ahram.