The Housing and Development Bank (HDB) is focused on financing four major sectors of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME), which include the medical, agriculture, food, and energy sectors, according to vice chairperson Essam Abou Hamed.
Abou Hamed said the bank has established criteria to select customers, giving it a clear vision and a complete picture of how to reach customers and SMEs everywhere.
The bank funds microenterprises through companies and associations specialised in dealing with these kinds of projects, he said.
Abou Hamed noted that the cost to reach the owners of these projects is very high, as a large number of customers must be reached in the countryside, such as in small villages and hamlets.
The bank will focus on other economic sectors in the upcoming period, including the industrial sector, particularly medicine, food, and petrochemical industries, Abou Hamed said. Any other industries that direct a large part of its production for exports or industries that replace imports are also being considered.
Abou Hamed explained that, for the first time, the bank intends to finance agricultural activity in its various forms, the agricultural industry in particular, so as to serve the economy as a whole.
