Banque du Caire chairperson Mounir El Zahid and head of the 10th of Ramadan Investors Association Samir Ezzat Aref signed a cooperation protocol to finance small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The cooperation protocol comes within the framework of the initiative launched by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) at the beginning of 2016 to finance SMEs.
According to El Zahid, signing this protocol is part of applying the bank’s strategy towards offering support to owners of SMEs and implementing an expansion strategy to support customers in these vital sectors.
El Zahid stressed that the bank’s interest in these projects is the result of their importance in developing the national economy, as well as achieving financial inclusion and expanding the base of bank customers. Investing in such projects also aims to merge a large percentage of the informal economy with the official economy.
“The protocol includes coordinating between the two sides to develop training programmes and workshops to create awareness of these companies and the benefits offered to them through the CBE’s initiative and the credit programmes it provides, which aim to spread the banking and financial culture,” El Zahid said.
He revealed that the SMEs loans portfolio reached EGP 2.6bn by the end of October, where the portfolio’s credit increased to 15% per month since the initiative began.
El Zahid expected the loans portfolio to increase to 22% before the end of this year.
