IDBE’s Loans To SMEs Are 15%
Industrial Development and Workers Bank of Egypt’s (IDWBE) SMEs portfolio registered 15%, EGP 210 million, of the total value of the direct loans portfolio that reached EGP two billion in March, said El-Sayed El-Kaseer, chairman of the Bank.
The Bank targets registering high growth rates and increasing SMEs portfolio to EGP 500 million by the end of the current year.
In the session convened during the Arab Banking Conference under the slogan of “unconventional mechanisms for financing SMEs”, El-Kaseer asserted that SMEs’ finances represent from 1-2% of the total value of portfolios of most banks, while they range from 6-7% of the total value of portfolios at other banks. The main challenge facing SMEs is getting finance which makes them unable to continue in the market, El-Kaseer noted.
The most difficult problems hindering the development of SMEs are the high costs of loans, inability to market the products and absence of IT services.
El-Kaseer suggested some unconventional mechanisms for financing SMEs such as the cooperation between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and banks to offer solidarity finances to micro, small and medium enterprises. It is worth mentioning that NGOs have the ability to follow up with these enterprises and the unregistered ones of them.
