EBRD to provide $705M financing for Egypt’s small enterprises, trade

CAIRO – 14 July 2024: During the second half of 2024, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced its plan to provide financial support totaling $705 million to several Egyptian banks. Hashem Abd El Hakim, the head of financial institutions for Egypt at EBRD, shared this information with Asharq Bloomberg.

Abd El Hakim explained that the allocated funding for Egyptian banks will be divided as follows: $305 million will be directed towards financing small and medium enterprises as well as green energy projects, while $400 million will be dedicated to financing intra-regional trade.

These statements follow the recent European-Egyptian Investment Conference, where Egypt signed 29 agreements worth €49 billion. Additionally, Egypt entered into six agreements and memorandums of understanding with European and non-European partners worth €18.7 billion.

Since its establishment in Egypt in 2012, the EBRD has invested over €12 billion in the country.

Abd El Hakim further clarified that in the first half of 2024, the bank provided approximately $145 million in financing to three banks and two companies, supporting small, medium, and sustainable projects.

In July, Yahya El-Wathiq Billah, the head of the Commercial Representation Authority, reported that European investments in Egypt reached €46 billion between 2017 and 2022.

Furthermore, Egypt aims to increase its trade exchange volume with European Union countries by around 10% to reach €35.9 billion in 2024, compared to €32.6 billion in the previous year.