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EU Pledges Egypt 1 Billion Euros in Financial Aid

A boy checks the calendula flowers, usually exported and used for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and traditional medicine, during the annual calendula flower harvest, at a field in Al Fayoum Governorate, southwest of Cairo, Egypt March 21, 2024. (Reuters)
A boy checks the calendula flowers, usually exported and used for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and traditional medicine, during the annual calendula flower harvest, at a field in Al Fayoum Governorate, southwest of Cairo, Egypt March 21, 2024. (Reuters)
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EU Pledges Egypt 1 Billion Euros in Financial Aid

A boy checks the calendula flowers, usually exported and used for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and traditional medicine, during the annual calendula flower harvest, at a field in Al Fayoum Governorate, southwest of Cairo, Egypt March 21, 2024. (Reuters)
A boy checks the calendula flowers, usually exported and used for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and traditional medicine, during the annual calendula flower harvest, at a field in Al Fayoum Governorate, southwest of Cairo, Egypt March 21, 2024. (Reuters)

The EU on Friday said it would provide Egypt with 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) in short-term financial aid to help stabilize the country's economy.

Egypt agreed last month to an expanded $8 billion support program with the International Monetary Fund and a deal with the EU worth billions to boost cooperation and help curb migration, as it is struggling with a prolonged economic crisis linked to chronic foreign currency shortages.

The 1 billion euros in short-term aid is part of a bigger package worth 5 billion euros in loans, the statement said. Another 4 billion euros were scheduled as longer-term assistance over the period 2024-2027, but still had to be adopted by the bloc's 27 members.

The loan is meant to address Cairo's deteriorating fiscal situation and financial needs, notably after the outbreak of the Gaza war, the Houthi militia attacks in the Red Sea and the repercussions of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the statement said.

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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.