Egypt’s giant public broadcaster, for some time suffering near-bankruptcy, has been rescued with a Egy£200 million cash injection (€27.14m). Egypt’s Radio and Television Union ERTU) has struggled for years with massive over-manning, and more than a few cases of senior level corruption, and while the Arab Spring revolution brought with it some potential benefits for Egypt, the broadcaster’s cash was depleted to such an extent that salaries could not be paid. The ERTU is housed in the giant Maspero tower building, the focus of many of the demonstrations against the Hosni Mubarak regime.

This emergency cash injection comes in the form of Egy£100 million from the state, plus another Egy£100 million in the form of a loan from the state-backed National Investment Bank. The cash was said to have been transferred on Saturday July 21 in order to pay outstanding salaries.

The cash officially goes to Egypt’s Ministry of Information, which is not helped by having a massive debt burden of some Egy£17 billion and with little likelihood of repayment. Mrs Fayza Abul Naga, Minister of International Cooperation, in a statement July 20 said meetings were scheduled to discuss the debt crisis at the Ministry/ERTU.

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