The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) in cooperation with investors associations in the industrial zones in Beni Suef, Assiut, and Minya held several meetings to support investment in Upper Egypt. The meetings were attended by senior officials of the associations and factories owners. This comes as part of the bank’s keenness to support and develop Upper Egypt in all economic activities, especially the industrial sector.
During these conferences, NBE head of Retail Banking and SMEs Hazem Hegazy and NBE Upper Egypt Region Head Alaa Abdel Halim, as well as head of the SME financing department Saad Mohi El Din, reviewed the facilities that the bank provides for industrial projects through the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) SMEs initiative and the credit lines directed for the financing of these projects.
They also discussed the proposals and opinions of factories owners and the challenges they face and limit their capabilities to expand. It was agreed to keep a representative of the bank at the association’s headquarters to answer queries and receive financing requests, in addition to assist in preparing credit documents.
Hegazy and the team of NBE conducted field studies to the industrial zones in Biyad El Arab area in Beni Suef, the New Minya, and El Zaraby in Assiut to inaugurate a number of projects that were financed by the bank across different sectors, including pharmaceuticals, garments, feed, and mills.
Hegazy said that the meetings come as part of a series of conferences and field studies that are being organized with investors of the industrial zones across Egypt to push these projects forward and put together practical solutions to meet their financing needs, to boost productivity, create new jobs, and provide new products that add value to the national economy.
According to Hegazy, the size of the SMEs portfolio at the bank reached EGP 32bn granted to 53,000 projects.
