Banks directed 13% of their loans to SMEs

CAIRO - 21 November 2017: Banks operating in the Egyptian market have allocated 12-13 percent of their loan portfolio to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), board member in the Federation of Egyptian Banks Akram Tenawy said Tuesday.

Speaking to Egypt Today, Tenawy said the banks shifted focus to SMEs since the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) launched its initiative to support that sector in early 2016.

Earlier this month, Egypt’s second largest state-owned bank Banque Misr said it financed LE 4.4 billion ($249 million) to SMEs and micro-small projects by June 2017.

The government has recently adopted many programs to support SMEs. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) was approved by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail to become one entity, working to upgrade and develop the SMEs sector by offering financial and non-financial services.

The MSMEDA will launch an online platform to include services and data, for the benefit of new companies. It will also launch new training programs that will develop skills of project founders. There are four programs certified by the International Labour Organization (ILO).