RIYADH: The International Islamic Trade Finance Corp. has provided Egypt an additional $3 billion to support the North African country amid soaring wheat prices fueled by the Ukraine war.
As per the new agreement, Egypt’s total funding is now doubled to $6 billion, Bloomberg reported citing Egypt’s Supply Minister Aly El-Moselhy in his interview with the MBC TV channel.
The government is also offering incentives to farmers to produce wheat and also setting an output quota to tackle the shortage of the grain primarily driven due to the ongoing tensions in Ukraine. Farmers will not be allowed to sell the rest of their crops outside the official procurement system without a license.
Egypt is one of the biggest importers of wheat in the world, and most of the grains come from Ukraine and Russia.
After Russia started invading Ukraine wheat prices soared, and the Egyptian government is seeking to maintain price stability and secure reserves of basic foodstuffs amid the fallout from the war.
