NBE To Sign Debt Settlement Agreement With Food Industries Company

The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has approved signing debt settlement agreement with a food industries company which is indebted with EGP 9 million.

The settlement agreement stipulates the payment of EGP 6 million over a year and half and receiving some properties to resume its activity after they were halted in the last period, sources said.

The hike in the value of foreign currencies against the Egyptian pound has led to keeping the bank’s non-performing loan portfolio unchanged at EGP 6.1 billion, although the bank received EGP 250 million in cash under debt settlement agreements with a number of defaulters in the first six months of FY 2012/2013, sources added.

The bank plans to reduce NPLs portfolio to EGP 5.5 billion by the end of the current fiscal year. The bank is in talks with a number of defaulters in order to reach an agreement to settle their debts.

Sources affirmed that the bank targets to offer credit facilities of EGP 200 million to a number of hotels to help them resume their expansions and activities. The bank also delayed the loan payments for customers in the tourism sector who are indebted with EGP 3 billion. The bank delayed the payment for some customers to three months and for others to six months.