Size of financing portfolio granted to micro-projects record LE18.2B by end of November

CAIRO – 3 January 2021: The size of the financing portfolio granted to micro-projects by associations, non-governmental institutions and financing companies amounted to LE 18.2 billion, from which about 3.2 million beneficiaries benefited - 63 percent of whom are females by the end of November 2020, Head of Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) Mohamed Omran said Sunday.

The indicator of the cumulative development of the volume of total transactions (disbursement and payment of financing) through non-cash payment methods from the beginning of the application in December 2018 until the end of September 2020 reached a total value of LE 2.5 billion (60 percent for financing disbursement, 40 percentfor payment of installments) distributed among various Governorates of the Republic.

He pointed out that about 416,000 clients have benefited from it (27 percent to disburse financing, 73 percent to pay installments), about 60 percent of which are projects owned and managed by women.

The head of the authority added that it is expected that transactions through the use of cashless payment methods will witness a wide and rapid boom by the end of the first quarter of the year 2021, which will grow during the new year to cover all micro-enterprise clients supported by the authority’s initiative and the requirements of compliance with the law of cashless payment, and overcoming Challenges facing the spread of the coronavirus.

"In addition to employing what the digital business environment now provides in Egypt, in terms of providing all means to support the transition to a cashless economy, it’s characterized by its inclusion of all financially marginalized groups in light of the financial inclusion policies of the informal sector," he added.

Omran indicated that during the first week of January 2021, the activities of the first axis of the "Digital Financial Inclusion 2021" initiative, which is spreading knowledge of the mechanisms of digital financial inclusion, will begin. 

The Financial Regulatory Authority announced Sunday the launch of the "Digital Financial Inclusion 2021" initiative, with the aim of completing the efforts made to activate the cashless payment system and raise the rates of financial inclusion, and containing the informal economy in Egypt by using digital payment tools in non-banking financial activities, especially in micro-enterprises.

A series of awareness seminars will be presented over the Internet on the issue of cashless payment and its developments in the activity of micro-finance projects and decisions. The governing body to make it available by the microfinance activity, according to Omran.

He referred to the second axis of the authority’s initiative "Capacity Building on Mechanisms for Digital Financial Inclusion of Workers in Funding Entities", which requires building the technical capabilities of human cadres working in the activity of micro-enterprise financing and what they require of adequate knowledge and understanding of the various tools of digital financial inclusion appropriate for their clients, and its importance in stimulating the sales volume of small projects and facilitating the management of project funds.

Omran indicated that during the last week of January 2021, the authority will provide "Qualification of Trainers Specialized in Digital Financial Inclusion (TOT)" through Zoom to present several meetings for a selected group representing all categories of entities licensed to practice the activity of financing micro-projects in order for them to transfer expertise in this field is easy for all workers in their institutions, and to shed light on the advantages that accrue to the activity of customers in light of the use of non-cash payment methods, with clarification of the customer protection controls issued by the authority in this regard.

He explained that the three axes of the authority’s initiative include developing digital mechanisms to motivate customers to use different cashless payment systems by helping micro-project finance agencies to encourage and motivate their clients to use various non-cash payment systems through sustainable digital means. “The activities of this axis begin as of From February 2021 until the end of the year.”

It includes several activities such as educational videos with the animation system, animation videos developed by the Women’s Projects Fund, which focus on mobile wallet payments, electronic payment, and the use of the QR Code in payment, with an explanation of the advantages that accrue to customers, in addition to hosting educational materials ( Awareness Videos / Infographic Videos for the Capacity Building Program) on the "ZDNA Learning and Development" platform, with an independent link under a joint brand of FRA.ZEDNY.COM.

“The development of a simplified guide for digital financial inclusion tools also comes as a fourth axis for the authority’s initiative to be prepared by the authority on the requirements for any financing agency to obtain the services of various non-cash payment methods, in addition to the most important frequent questions and their answers in this field and published on the authority’s website to help agencies Financing micro-enterprises in the speed of implementing digital transformation of their financial transactions with their clients,” he added.

Omran affirmed his keenness to ensure that its effectiveness is characterized by using various digital technology tools throughout the year. For this reason, the Commission cooperated with distinguished success partners in this field, as it is the first partner in the “Arab Women Projects Fund (AWEF)”, which is a funded regional development program. From the British Department for International Development (DFID).

"The Islamic Development Bank aims to provide economic opportunities for low-income women and their inclusion in various economic sectors, in order to improve the ability of poor women to obtain financing and access them,” he added.