The African Development Bank (AfDB) has released a statement saying it is making “good progress” in finalising a $500m funding package for Egypt.

It is understood the AfDB will deposit the funds by the end of the year as part of a $1.5bn funding agreement between Cairo and the development lender.

Egypt received the first installment of the agreement earlier this year.

If the funds are deposited by the end of the year, the country’s foreign reserves could reach $25bn, with the figure currently sitting at $23.5bn following deposits from the Washington-based IMF, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China in recent months.

On 11 November, Cairo received the first installment of a $12bn loan from the IMF. Before that, deposits from China, the UAE and Saudi Arabia were also made part of the $6bn-worth of bilateral financing that the IMF required Egypt to raise in order to qualify for the three-year $12bn programme.

The government also recently announced it has entered negotiations with European countries for about $800m-worth of loans and grants from European countries aimed at boosting economic growth and supporting the country’s projects market.