National Bank of Egypt to sign EIB’s SME financing deal before month-end

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will sign a €400 million loan deal with the National Bank of Egypt before the end of this October, a banking source with knowledge told Amwal Al Ghad on Monday.

The anticipated agreement will be for financing small and medium-sized projects in Egypt, the source added.

NBE, Egypt’s biggest state lender, has solid relations with a number of international lenders as it recently signed a $700 million agreement with the China Development Bank to finance infrastructure projects.

The Egyptian bank sign in March 2015 a €120 million loan with the EIB for financing private sector companies. As part of the Private Sector Growth and Economic Development project, the loan is focused on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), implementing projects in the productive and services sectors.

Since operations began in Egypt in 1979, the EU bank has provided over €6.4 billion of financing in the country. Operations in Egypt cover all sectors, including energy, transport, water and industry, as well as support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through credit lines and risk capital.