Microfinance registers LE 6.1B in Q3 2017

CAIRO - 17 December 2017: Microfinance activity continued its growth over the third quarter (Q3) of 2017 to record LE 6.1 billion, registering a 10 percent increase compared to Q2 2017, chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) Mohamed Omran said Sunday.

The number of beneficiaries from microfinance initiatives in that period, from non-governmental organizations authorized to provide the service, recorded 2.1 million individuals for industrial, service, handicrafts and commercial projects.

A number of 840 entities were granted licenses by EFSA to operate in the microfinance sector, Omran said in a statement.

Microfinance is characterized by the existence of crowdfunding and individual lending. The total number of beneficiaries of crowdfunding represented 73 percent of total financing balances, compared to 27 percent for individual lending.

Last month, Omran said that 70 percent of microfinance beneficiaries were women, with their number reaching 1.4 million, compared to 600,000 men. Most of the women were from Upper Egypt.

The EFSA disclosed in August the first digital map for microfinance that shows the licensed bodies that practice microfinance.

The map includes licensed companies, communities and civil organizations, along with their activities in different governorates. It also lists the branches of the macro-financial bodies, their addresses, the number of clients and the value of finance in each governorate.