CBE cuts interest on soft loans for tourism industry to 5%

The central bank of Egypt had extended its 50 billion Egyptian pounds tourism support initiative to provide soft loans to tourism companies to help them mitigate the impact of the covid-19 on their business.

CBE is subsidizing loans from banks to tourism companies to help them cover wages, commitments to suppliers and maintenance expenses, the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said.

The loans originally carried an interest rate of 8% tenor of two years, and provide a six-month grace period. Egypt expected tourism revenues to hit USD 15 bn this year, up from a record USD 13 bn in 2019, before the pandemic hit.