A banking consortium has offered to loan the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) EGP 10 billion to import oil and to settle part of its debts to the Ministry of Electricity, Al Mal reported.

The consortium includes the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, Commercial International Bank (CIB), Arab African International Bank, Qatar National Bank (QNB), and Crédit Agricole.

EGPC was in the middle of negotiating the loan agreement earlier this year, but put talks on hold after it obtained several loans amounting to $1.5 billion.

It began receiving offers for a new loan last month, and will announce its choice next week.

Two banking groups led by the Egyptian Gulf Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB Egypt) are competing with the six-bank consortium.

Media previously reported that EGPC is seeking two loans to cover its financial needs, one worth $750 million and the other worth EGP 10 billion.