Egypt: Chinese Development Finance Profile, 2000-2022

This country profile provides a detailed overview of the scale, scope, and composition of Chinese state-directed financing in Egypt from 2000 to 2022. It includes granular information on key trends in China’s loan and grant-financed commitments, its lending portfolio, ESG risks in its infrastructure projects, and contractual safeguards adoption and implementation.

From 2000 to 2022, China directed $15.9 billion in loan and grant-financed commitments for 126 projects in Egypt. Cairo has consistently used currency swap drawdowns to maintain the country’s foreign exchange reserves during times of financial distress. At time of writing, Egypt ranks as the seventh-largest recipient of Chinese emergency rescue lending, drawing down up to $4.1 billion a year under its swap line with the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).

The insights in this profile are derived from AidData’s Global Chinese Development Finance Dataset, Version 3.0 and the sources referenced therein. Additional 2022 data collection is based on a forthcoming dataset version launching in November 2025.