Microfinance in Egypt grows by 7% in 3rd quarter of 2020

CAIRO – 31 December 2020: Chairwoman of the Egyptian Union for Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises Funding Mona Zulfacar stated Wednesday that the value of microfinance grew in the third quarter of 2020 by seven percent to record LE42.7 billion compared to the second quarter of the same year.

The number of beneficiaries also rose slightly by 0.5 percent to become 3.9 million, Zulfacar added pointing out that private associations and institutions offered LE17.8 million of the sum mentioned above. Of those, LE3.1 million were disbursed in the third quarter of 2020. Such entities are licensed by the Financial Regulatory Authority.

The union's chairwoman underlined that microfinance offered by banks with a value of LE100,000 maximum grew by 9.7 percent to hit LE24.9 billion serving 833,000 clients with a slight increase of 0.9 percent.

Zulfucar showcased that the UNDP indicates that SMEs compose 99 percent of private investments in Egypt, and hire 75 percent of labor. She also cited a report by the Ministry of International Cooperation stating that 10 percent of business owners are women.