EIB provided €1.7B funding to support Egyptian SMEs

CAIRO – 19 November 2020: The European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided funding of €1.7 billion since January 2020, to support Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) via local banks. 

 

The funding will also contribute to the implementation of sanitation projects in Alexandria Governorate and technical grants,, according to Ministry of International Cooperation.

 

The report issued by the Ministry of International Cooperation for the period from January to October 2020 stated, Thursday that  the ministry signed an agreement worth €120 million regarding the project "Development and Modernization of the Western Sewage Treatment Plant in Alexandria", for the benefit of the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities and the Executive Authority for Drinking Water and Sanitation.

 

Another cooperation agreement was signed regarding the feasibility study for the project of rehabilitating the second line of the Cairo subway with an amount of €1.2 million, which is a grant, and an agreement regarding supplementary studies to modernize the Tanta-Mansoura-Damietta line at the amount of €1.5 million, as well as a grant agreement worth €19 million between the Ministry International Cooperation, the Bank, the Ministry of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, the Holding Company for Drinking Water and Sewage, the Dakahlia, Al-Gharbia and Kafr El-Sheikh Sewerage companies, under which the bank manages the grant provided by the European Union for the Kitchener Bank project.

 

With regard to small and medium enterprises; the European Investment Bank has provided nearly €1.6 billion to Egyptian banks to support small and medium enterprises, as follows: €92 million for Banque du Caire, €800 million for the National Bank of Egypt, and €750 million for Banque Misr (the approval of the bank's board of directors has been obtained, and the current Finalizing the contract in preparation for its signature), in addition to contributing to the financing of the Laurax Fund in the amount of $22 million.

 

The report referred to the approval of the Board of Directors of the European Investment Bank to fund the framework for transport infrastructure projects with a value of €1.13 billion, to finance 3 projects: a project to rehabilitate the Raml tram in Alexandria with a value of €138 million, a project for electrifying the Abu Qir Alexandria railway with a value of €750 million, Rehabilitation of the second line, with a value of €240 million.

 

Within the framework of ongoing projects, the European Investment Bank has disbursed a number of financing segments during the year 2020 within the framework of the development projects currently implemented with the bank, which are (€9.8 million from the sanitation project in Kafr El-Sheikh, €5 million from the youth electricity project, and €18.5 million from the community development program, and €20 million from the wind farm project in the Gulf of Suez).

 

The Minister of International Cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat, held a press conference earlier to talk about the report, stressing that the ministry was able to provide $ 7.3 billion in development funds in various vital sectors of the state, to implement development projects, within the framework of the National Development Agenda 2030, which is consistent with the goals Sustainable development.

 

The Minister of International Cooperation indicated that these financing are characterized by being easy, as the average interest rate on them is only about 2 percent, and it is much lower than the funds obtained from international markets, and it is also long-term, with terms sometimes reaching 30 years.

 

The ongoing cooperation portfolio between the Arab Republic of Egypt, represented by the Ministry of International Cooperation and the European Investment Bank, amounts to about €2.3 billion in many development sectors, including press exchange, transportation, small projects and the purification of the Kitchener Bank.