El Sayed El Kosayer, the chairperson of the Egyptian Agricultural Bank (EAB), signed a contract with Nevine El Gamea, the chairperson of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSME) to obtain EGP 250m worth of financing.
According to El Kosayer, the contract aims to finance new small projects, whether in the sector of livestock, agriculture, and irrigation systems. The contract includes purchasing new and used machinery, in addition to working capital.
The contract aims to finance the facilities and buildings as well as the preparations necessary for the projects within the agricultural field and the sector of developing livestock as well as all the activities related to them and all the irrigation systems approved by the state.
El Kosayer pointed out that the bank owns a network of 1,210 branches in several cities and villages across different governorates. This enables the bank to reach all the target consumers everywhere across the country.
According to El Kosayer, about 75% of the volume of the loan portfolio in the bank is dedicated to micro, small, and medium enterprises, and about 25% of the loan portfolio is dedicated to financing women.
El Kosayer pointed out that the number of the bank’s clients is approximately 3 million. There is a plan to add about 4 million others over the upcoming period to take the number of the bank’s clients to 7 million. He also pointed out that the bank has the capacity to serve about 40% of the total number of Egyptian citizens in Egypt, especially following the plan to develop and restructure the bank.
According to El Gamea, the contract will help finance 2,300 new and existing projects, which will eventually provide 4,600 permanent and temporary job opportunities to the owners of these projects.
Nevine El Gamea added that this contract is only one in several that the agency recently signed with the EAB, which reflects the confidence of the agency in EAB’s ability to achieve development goals.
El Gamea revealed that the interest rate on these loans will be a declining 10%. She stressed that this is a very suitable interest rate compared to the lending price in the market. In addition, the speed of providing financing and the support by the bank and the agency to those who receive loans is much more important than the interest rate.
