A severe US dollar shortage problem that has hit Egypt over the past weeks will have no impact on its nuclear power reactor being built by a Russian company, the head of the Arab country’s top nuclear authority has said.

The project will be finished on time as it is not facing any funding problem, said Amjad Al-Wakil, Chairman of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA).

“The project is progressing according to the defined timetable…there is no impact on the project by the dollar crisis,” Wakil said, quoted by Addustour newspaper.

He stressed that the nuclear project, which will supply nearly 7 percent of Egypt’s power supply when it is completed in 2026, faces no funding problems as the agreement with the Russian firm include providing a loan to Egypt to finance the reactor.

Russia's state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom is building Egypt’s nuclear reactor in the Northern port of Dabaa.

Officials have said the project would cost nearly $28.7 billion, of which Russia will finance 85 percent as a state loan of around $25 billion.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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