‘Aman’ certificates to be launched Sunday

CAIRO – 3 March 2018: Four Egyptian banks will issue Sunday the Aman Certificate (Security Certificate), a new life insurance plan for casual and temporary workers.

The certificates can be purchased without any fees or opening an account. They range from LE 500-2,500, providing insurance coverage and monthly pensions for casual workers with a 16 percent interest rate.

The policy includes coverage for natural and accidental death and pays one-time benefits of LE 10,000-250,000 or monthly pensions of LE 200-1,000 over five years or LE 120-600 over 10 years.

The four banks are the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, Banque Du Caire and Agriculture Bank of Egypt.

The certificates can be purchased by any seasonal and temporary laborer between 18 and 59 years of age upon presenting his national identification card.

Official estimates show that the number of informal workers, including craftsmen, daily-hire workers and self-employed, is 15 million.

The new certificates come as a response to President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi’s directions to provide social insurance to daily laborers.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail announced Thursday the introduction of the new certificates, which will be introduced by a number of state banks and state insurance companies

The four banks will start issuing the certificates Sunday across their 2,475 branches.

Egypt's unemployment rate reached 11.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

Ismail said last year that the country’s informal sector is worth LE 1.6 trillion.