BENGALURU (Reuters) -Egyptian Supply Minister Ali Moselhy said on Monday that no credit line had been opened with India but discussions were ongoing regarding payments for imports using currencies other than the dollar.
Bloomberg News, citing Moselhy, had earlier reported that India was providing Egypt with a credit line worth an unspecified value. The news agency said that the minister did not give further details on the facility.
“Nothing of the sort has been implemented but there are discussions so that we can trade in local currencies of countries like India, Russia or China,” the minister told Reuters.
Moselhy said that similar discussions were also being held with Russia and China.
The Indian finance ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Egypt later this month, as the two countries seek to become strategic partners, according to media reports.
Egypt is trying to stabilize its economy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year rocked its tourism industry, raised commodity prices and prompted foreign investors to pull about $20 billion out of its financial markets.
Inflation has risen sharply over the last year in Egypt after a series of currency devaluations, a prolonged shortage of foreign currency, and continuing delays in getting imports into the country.
The supply minister told Reuters in May the country’s state grains buyer had deferred opening letters of credit to pay for wheat imports to alleviate financial pressures caused by a foreign currency shortage.
The country has plans of selling state assets to meet its debt repayment commitments.
(Reporting by Rama Venkat, Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru and Sarah El Safty; Editing by Sonia Cheema, Anil D’Silva and Maju Samuel)
