Saudi Arabia announced it would deposit $5bn with the Central Bank of Egypt to support Cairo’s foreign exchange reserves, after the economy was affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine The value of the Egyptian pound has fallen since the outbreak of the war by more than 20 percent, with the country also heavily reliant on grain exports from Ukraine CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has praised Saudi Arabia and the UAE for their financial assistance in response to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Speaking to the media at the inauguration of a series of dairy production facilities and slaughterhouses in Sadat City, in response to a question about the support provided by the Kingdom and the UAE, the president said that the two Gulf states “moved together” without a request from Cairo. In March, Saudi Arabia announced it would deposit $5 billion with the Central Bank of Egypt to contribute to supporting Cairo’s foreign exchange reserves, after the Egyptian economy was affected by the Russian invasion. The value of the Egyptian pound has fallen since the outbreak of the war by more than 20 percent, with the country also heavily reliant on grain exports from Ukraine. “This is an opportunity to thank them,” El-Sisi said, calling on other Arab states with deposits in Egypt to convert them into investments During the same period, an agreement was announced between the Egyptian government and the Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund, which includes implementing investments estimated at $2 billion in return for purchasing government-owned stakes in financial and industrial institutions. El-Sisi said: “Egypt’s population is around 100 million people, and we have promising investment opportunities. “We welcome (our) brothers to make investments in Egypt, and we are ready to provide them with all support in both cases.” Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly had indicated in previous statements that the volume of investments recently made in Egypt by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar amounted to around $12 billion, and that his country’s government aims to benefit from the transformation of deposits into investments to reduce the ratio of public debt to GDP from 85 percent now to 75 percent by 2026.