National Bank of Egypt says financed 31,000 SME industrial projects

National Bank of Egypt, the country’s largest state lender, said on Wednesday had secured finances of 21.4 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.3 billion) for 31,000 small and medium-sized industrial projects.

The bank’s direct and indirect SME lending portfolio has reached around 64 billion pounds in favour of 74,000 projects Mamdouh Afia – Head of SME Finance Group told Amwal Al Ghad.

NBE is seeking to increase its financing for SME industrial sector to 100 billion pounds by the end of 2020, Afia said.

Afia made his remarks during the inauguration of NBE’s new branch in Robiki Leather City, a sprawling industrial zone that lies to the east of Cairo designed to revive Egypt’s leather industry.