Egypt’s MSMEDA to ink EU €27 million grant next month

Egypt’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (MSMEDA) will sign by next month a €27 million ($30 million) grant from the European Union, its head said on Monday.

The loan will be directed to support labour-intensive projects in around 11 governorates across Egypt as well as to contribute to combating illegal immigration, Nevine Gamea told reporters.

MSMEDA, previously known as the Social Fund for Development, is an autonomous development and poverty-alleviation agency, established in 1991 with support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It is an agency affiliated to Egypt’s Cabinet, designed to act as a social safety net to undertake the government’s economic reform programme by developing the MSME sector either directly or through banks as mediators.