French Development Agency gives Initial Approval for SFD Egypt’s new Loan

The French Development Agency (AFD) has given initial preliminary approval to secure a new finance worth €40 million to Egypt’s Social Fund for Development (SFD), the Egyptian fund’s secretary-general announced Wednesday.

Speaking to Amwal Al Ghad on Wednesday, SFD’s secretary general Soha Soliman said the AFD finance aimed to give financial support for all the technical and vocational sectors in Egypt.

The Social Fund for Development (SFD) was established by a Presidential Decree in 1990, in collaboration with the World Bank and UNDP, the European Union and three Arab Funds, mainly to mobilise national and international resources to be used for human development. SFD could secure US$1,550 million donations and soft loans. It facilitates and supports the economic reform programme and mitigates its adverse effects on vulnerable and low income population groups. It helps to mitigate poverty and reduce unemployment by providing new job opportunities through financing small enterprises and by offering donations for community development and infrastructure works.
SFD was regarded as a social safety net associated with the Government of Egypt’s agreement to undertake its extensive Economic Reform and Structural Adjustment Programme.