CAIRO, April 2 (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi is travelling to Saudi Arabia on Sunday,
according to three diplomatic sources, as Cairo continues to
seek financial inflows to ease pressure on its currency and
bolster a faltering economy.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has long provided financial support to
Egypt but recently signalled it would no longer provide such
backing without strings attached, which observers think may have
sparked a rare media clash between the two countries.
The trip also comes amid a major diplomatic realignment in
the region, with moves by Saudi Arabia and Egypt to ease
tensions with Syria, Iran and Turkey.
There was no immediate official comment from Egypt or Saudi
Arabia on the visit.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have repeatedly come to
Egypt's help since Sisi led the ouster of Mohamed Mursi of the
Muslim Brotherhood a decade ago.
When Egypt's financial difficulties were exposed and
exacerbated by the fallout from the war in Ukraine last year,
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar made deposits
in Egypt's central bank and pledged major new investments.
But those investments have been slow to materialise, putting
new pressure on the Egyptian pound in recent weeks despite the
currency losing nearly half its value against the dollar since
March 2022.
Egypt signed a $3 billion rescue plan with the International
Monetary Fund in December that targeted $9.7 billion in foreign
direct investment in the financial year ending in June 2023.
(Reporting by Mohamed Waly, Mohamed Ahmed Hassan and Aziz El
Yaakoubi
Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
