The World Bank has approved two loans totaling $800mn to key post-‘Arab Spring’ North African countries. Egypt gets $500mn to expand natural gas access to households, while Tunisia gets $300mn to strengthen local government.

The loan to Egypt will finance a project to expand the natural gas grid to supply 1.2mn additional households in 11 governorates, including the three governorates of Sohag, Qena and Aswan located in Upper Egypt, where poverty levels are the highest. (CONTINUED - 726 WORDS)