Türkiye and Slovakia Get US Waiver Extension for Gas Payments to Russia

Representation photo: The sun sets behind burning gas flares at the Dora (Daura) Oil Refinery Complex in Baghdad on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
Representation photo: The sun sets behind burning gas flares at the Dora (Daura) Oil Refinery Complex in Baghdad on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
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Türkiye and Slovakia Get US Waiver Extension for Gas Payments to Russia

Representation photo: The sun sets behind burning gas flares at the Dora (Daura) Oil Refinery Complex in Baghdad on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
Representation photo: The sun sets behind burning gas flares at the Dora (Daura) Oil Refinery Complex in Baghdad on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

Türkiye and Slovakia have received extensions from the United States to waivers for gas payments to Russia, sources told Reuters on Thursday, adding that the extensions would be valid until May.

In November, Washington imposed new sanctions over the Ukraine conflict on Russia's Gazprombank, one of the country's largest banks which receives payments for natural gas from Gazprom's customers in Europe.

Türkiye, along with Hungary and Slovakia, received a US waiver in December, removing a major hurdle to paying for the gas they receive from Russia via the TurkStream gas pipeline.

Türkiye's energy ministry declined to comment, while Türkiye's treasury and Slovakia's economy ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hungary had not commented on the waiver extension at the time of writing.

Türkiye and Hungary receive Russian gas via the TurkStream pipeline under the Black Sea.

Since the end of Ukraine's transit of Russian gas to Europe at the end of last year, Slovakia has had to rely on supplies from Hungary, but its main gas importer SPP said in February that Gazprom had begun supplying it again, using volumes given up by Hungary on the TurkStream pipeline.



Egypt's GDP Growth at 4.3% in Second Quarter vs 2.3% a Year Earlier

Residents of Ezbet Hamada in Cairo's El Matareya district peer from their balconies to celebrate a mass break-fast, "Iftar" during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP)
Residents of Ezbet Hamada in Cairo's El Matareya district peer from their balconies to celebrate a mass break-fast, "Iftar" during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP)
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Egypt's GDP Growth at 4.3% in Second Quarter vs 2.3% a Year Earlier

Residents of Ezbet Hamada in Cairo's El Matareya district peer from their balconies to celebrate a mass break-fast, "Iftar" during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP)
Residents of Ezbet Hamada in Cairo's El Matareya district peer from their balconies to celebrate a mass break-fast, "Iftar" during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP)

Egypt's GDP growth rate increased to 4.3% in the second quarter of its 2024/25 year compared with 2.3% in the same period a year earlier, the planning ministry said on Wednesday.

GDP grew along with total investments, though public investments were below 40% of the total. Several sectors supported growth, including non-oil manufacturing activity, which was up by 17.74%, and tourism activity, which surged 18%. The fiscal year began on July 1.

Some sectors contracted in the second quarter of fiscal 2024/25, including the Suez Canal, where activity fell by 70%.

Extraction activity growth fell 9.2%, on the back of oil extraction activity, which slipped 7.6% and gas by 19.6%.