EBRD considers expanding Egypt offices to Upper Egypt, SCZone

CAIRO – 15 November 2017: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) is studying expanding its offices in Egypt to Upper Egypt and the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), EBRD’s Managing Director for the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region Janet Heckman said.

Speaking to Egypt Today Tuesday, Heckman said that this decision came after the bank had opened its first office outside Cairo, in Alexandria, in September.

“This was the first office of an international financial institution outside the capital,” Heckman added.

A high-level delegation of the EBRD and the bank’s governors in other Arab countries were in Egypt on Tuesday, as the EBRD Business Forum for the SEMED area took place in Cairo.

On the sidelines of the forum, the EBRD signed eight agreements worth $325 million to Egypt’s banks to finance small and medium enterprises (SMEs), trade and women's projects.

EBRD’s investment portfolio in Egypt is expected to skyrocket to €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) by the year’s end, which is more than double last year’s figure.

Since the beginning of 2017, the EBRD has invested around €1.3 billion in Egypt in different sectors, of which 30 percent were allocated for public sector entities in areas such as transport, renewable energy, waste water, and energy efficiency.

Egypt is a founding member of the EBRD and has been receiving investments by the Bank since 2012. To date, the Bank has invested €2.7 billion in 52 projects in the country.

The EBRD’s areas of investment include the financial sector, agribusiness, manufacturing and services, as well as infrastructure projects such as power, municipal water and wastewater services, and support for transport services. The EBRD has also provided technical assistance to more than 600 SMEs in the country so far.