Banks secure EGP376 mln to Mashroak initiative during April

Banks in Egypt financed 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises with 378 million Egyptian pounds as part of The Egyptian National Program for Community, Human, and Local Development (Mashroak).

The project succeed in creating  more than 19,000 jobs during April, said Local Development Minister Mahmoud Shaarawy on Sunday.

Since it was launched, Mashroak financed 142,633 projects that provided more than 770,000 job opportunities with total loans of 13.7 billion pounds.

Mashroak is part of the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) initiative to finance micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with loans at an interest rate of 5 percent.

Banks participating in the initiative including the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, ALEXBANK, Housing and Development Bank, and the Agricultural Bank of Egypt.

The aim of this project is to provide employment opportunities in all governorates, particularly for young citizens and women through achieving sustainable development, limiting internal migration from villages to cities and improving the quality of life of the youth and their families, he said.