Egypt’s National Media Authority signed an agreement with the National Investment Bank to clear about 88.3 billion Egyptian pounds in long-standing debt by transferring state media land assets to the bank, a finance ministry official told Al Manassa.
The agreement resolves decades of accumulated liabilities that hindered the state media body, removing compound interest burdens and freeing up resources for broadcast production. Ownership of the properties, valued at approximately 88 billion pounds, will transfer to the National Investment Bank in the coming days.
The swapped assets include 44 land parcels across Cairo and several governorates previously used for production studios, art facilities, and television transmission sites, the official said.
The deal also encompasses roughly 3,000 feddans split between the New Administrative Capital and the Zafarana area in the Red Sea Governorate, according to the official, who requested anonymity.
According to a Cabinet statement posted on Facebook, the deal executes directives from President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to close outstanding debt files between the National Investment Bank and state institutions.
The debt traces back to the 1980s, when the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, commonly known as Maspero, took out loans to fund expansion, facility construction, and infrastructure upgrades. Over time, falling artistic output and a growing workforce left the entity unable to service the debt or its accumulating interest.
The official noted that the ownership transfer does not necessarily mean the authority will stop utilizing the properties, characterizing the transaction as an internal restructuring to finalize the settlement.
Closing the historical debt file aims to relieve compounding interest pressures, allowing the authority to reorganize its financial resources and concentrate on modernizing its media and production operations.
The Board of the National Media Authority publicly thanked El-Sisi for ordering the resolution of Maspero’s debt.
“Without the President’s guidance and sponsorship, this historic solution would not have been possible,” the board said in a statement published on its website.
