Mashroak project provided more than 19,000 jobs: minister

CAIRO - 3 May 2020: The Egyptian National Program for Community, Human, and Local Development (Mashroak) financed 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises across the country by 378 million pounds and provided more than 19,000 jobs, said Local Development Minister Mahmoud Shaarawy on Sunday.

The aim of this project is to provide employment opportunities in all governorates, particularly for young citizens and women through achieving sustainable development, limiting internal migration from villages to cities and improving the quality of life of the youth and their families, he said.

He added that all governorates are committed to postponing the project loans for six months as of March in a bid to ease economic repercussions of coronavirus outbreak.

Since it was launched, Mashroak financed 142,633 projects that provided more than 770,000 jobs.

Mashroak is part of the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) initiative to finance micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with loans at an interest rate of 5%.

Banks participating in the initiative are the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, ALEXBANK, Housing and Development Bank, and the Agricultural Bank of Egypt.