By: Eslam Fadl
Cairo – Mubasher: Banque Misr, Egypt’s second largest state-run lender, is considering investing EGP 1.5 billion into small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The leading Egyptian bank plans to study over 50% of SMEs in several sectors prior to the end of fiscal year 2018/2019, the bank’s SMEs and microfinance department head told Mubasher.
The bank aims at funding SMEs with EGP 3.5 billion by the end of this year, upon which the investment portfolio would reach EGP 23 billion, versus EGP 19.5 billion at the end of February, Sherif El-Behery revealed.
The Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) initiative for financing SMEs made up 25% of Banque Misr’s total financing portfolio by EGP 4.875 billion by the end of February, he indicated.
In January 2016, the CBE had compelled national banks to allocate 20% of their credit portfolio to fund SMEs in four years.
Translated by: Mai Ezz El-Din
