Mona Zulficar, Chairperson of the Egyptian Federation for Financing Medium, Small, and Micro Projects, said that microfinance grew by about 19% during the year, exceeding EGP 93bn with 4.5 million clients in June 2024, compared to EGP 78.3bn to serve 4.6 million clients in June 2023.
She added that microfinance companies’ customer base increased by 6% to reach 1.9 million clients in June 2024, compared to 1.8 million clients in June 2023. Their financing balances grew by 38%, recording EGP 36.3bn, compared to EGP 26.3bn in June 2023.
Civil society organizations and institutions that obtained the license to practice the activity from the Financial Regulatory Authority’s (FRA) financing balances grew by 25% during the same period, reaching EGP 19.9bn to serve 1.8 million customers, compared to EGP 15.9bn to serve two million customers.
Zulficar highlighted the banks’ role in supporting microfinance customers through several mechanisms. The most important of these is granting indirect facilities to microfinance entities and direct financing to customers, which amounted to EGP 37bn for about 773,000 customers in June 2024.
She said that the customer base of companies financing medium and small enterprises increased to 8,000 customers in June 2024, compared to 3,600 customers in June 2023, and its financing balances grew to EGP 8.9bn compared to EGP 3.2bn.
She expressed her expectation that the industry would continue to grow and include more clients in the formal financial sector, especially since the local market is one of the most important markets for attracting foreign capital. International institutions also focus on benefiting from the potential client base. She demonstrated this with the deal to sell shares in Tamweely to the SPE Investors Alliance, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), TCV Capital Development, and the British International Investment Corporation (Bll).
