Loans to SMEs within CBE initiative reach LE 67B

CAIRO – 7 March 2018: Total loans that banks issued within the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) initiative to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) currently amount to LE 67 billion, head of banking development sector at CBE Mostafa Mounir said Wednesday.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the Egyptian Centre for Economic Studies (ECES) Wednesday, Mounir said that some 61,000 companies have benefited from the funding since February 2016.

He said that the CBE has allocated LE 100 million over five years to build business development centers, in cooperation with Nile University, to provide consultancy services to the SME sector.

The CBE also targets to establish 40 business development centers across the country before year-end.

Mounir added that the CBE mulls banks’ contribution in special funds to finance SMEs in the coming period.

In 2016, the CBE announced an initiative to finance SMEs. Under the initiative, 20 per cent of bank loans should be allocated to SMEs within four years.

The banks are to offer around LE200 billion to finance 350,000 companies and thus create job opportunities for more than four million people.

Interest rates will be less than the five per cent on loans given to youth initiatives. The banks participating in the four-year program will be able to deduct the loans from their required reserves at the CBE.