Egypt’s state-owned Arab Contractors has signed a credit facility deal with the Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

The deal, which is worth $200m, was signed on 30 July and is the first provided for a state-owned Egyptian firm.

The contractor’s chairman, Mohsen Salah, said in a statement that the deal will allow the company to diversify its financing sources for its projects locally and globally.

Earlier this year Afreximbank said it was considering several loans for Egyptian companies, the lender’s manager of banking operations said at a press conference in Cairo on 23 February.

Heba Abu el-Ezz told reporters the bank is considering a $1.2bn facility for local investors and a $500m facility for banks and financial institutions, with the aim of supporting Egypt’s export industries.

El-Ezz also said Afreximbank is looking to increase its capital by $400m in 2016.

The lender’s credit facilities in Egypt reached $4.2bn in 2016, said El-Ezz. This included a $521m joint loan for Egypt’s emergency electricity programme, $1.9bn for the petrochemicals sector and about $210m for the power sector.

In December last year, the African Development Bank (AfDB) also approved the payment of $500m to Egypt as part of the second of three tranches of a $1.5bn loan agreed in 2016.