(Ecofin Agency) - Egypt hired banking groups JP Morgan, Citibank, BNP Paribas and Natixis to arrange $3-$5bn Eurobonds, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement published on August 18.

Issuance for the bonds was approved at the beginning of August by the Egyptian government.

Since the revolution which brought down President Mubarak’s regime in January 2011, Egypt has been struggling to restart its economy which was fully hit by a fall in foreign exchange earnings driven by lower revenues from the Suez Canal and decline in the tourism industry.

The Northern African nation which is governed by Abdelfattah-al Sissi since June 2014 has already captured tens of billions of dollars in aid, including more than $25bn in cash from the oil monarchies of the Gulf. Last August 11, Cairo signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a preliminary contract for a $12bn loan program to support urgent economic reforms.