Afreximbank studying $50 mln SME loan for Egypt’s United Bank

The Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is studying lending Egypt’s state-run United Bank around $50 million to finance small and medium-sized businesses in the country.

The loan is part of the African bank’s plans to inject more financing in the Egyptian market in favour of small-sized projects and trade operations, a senior source in Afreximbank told Amwal Al Ghad on Saturday.

The Central Bank of Egypt owns 99.9 percent of the United Bank.

To date, Afreximbank’s cooperation portfolio with Egypt has reached $2.4 billion, representing 28.22 percent of its overall facilities portfolio, Kanayo Awani, the bank’s Managing Director of intra-African Trade Initiative, said earlier this month.

Since its inception in 1993, Afreximbank has secured, $17.6 billion in credit facilities to support Egyptian financial institutions, Awani added.