National Bank of Egypt allocates $150 mln to financing SMEs

The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has announced that it is allocating $150 million – 20 percent of $750 million of a loan it signed in 2017 with an international bank alliance – to finance small and medium enterprises.

The international bank alliance is headed by the European Bank for Development and Reconstruction and includes HSBC, Emirates NBD, Citi Bank, Bank ABC, Ras Alkhaima, Standard Chartered, NBAD, Dubai Trade, CBD banks.

The National Bank will allocate the remaining 80 percent of the loan ($600 million) for company credit, affirming that the loan refreshes the USD liquidity.

Financing shares are distributed as $150 million from the EBDR, and $75 million from each of the other banks included in the alliance.

The NBE small and medium enterprises portfolio registered EGP 37.5 billion ($2.1 billion) in November 2017.