Egypt seals deal with AfDB to restructure state’s social lender

Egypt’s International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr signed on Thursday a grant deal with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to restructure the state’s Nasser Social Bank.

Under the terms of the deal, the Nasser Social Bank (NSB) will get a finance of 10 million Egyptian pounds as a first stage to improve its financial performance.

The bank was founded in 1971 and targets underprivileged Egyptians. The bank is under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Solidarity.

The AFDB will be directed to improve the financial performance of the bank through better credit management and improved work systems, according to Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali, who attended the signing of the deal.

Wali said that Nasser Social Bank, which has 90 branches nationwide, has had an important social role in Egypt, including providng young people with free-yield social loans, financing social housing projects and other social programmes such as providing payments to divorced women.

According to Wali, the total amount paid by the bank to 245,000 divorced women in Egypt had reached 1 billion pounds by 2016.

Source: Ahram Online

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