NBE’s Environmental Finances Portfolio Registers EGP 1.3 Bln In May

The National Bank of Egypt said the total volume of environmental finances offered till the end of May is EGP 1.350 billion out of EGP 8.4 billion, the total volume of SMEs loans portfolio.

NBE is in talks with gas companies and Industrial Development Authority over financing factories in Behira in order to convert them to run on natural gas instead of fuel oil, sources said.

NBE is doing studies to determine the number of factories and estimate the costs of conversion. Besides, NBE has allocated EGP 120 million to finance 130 brick factories in Al Saf City in Helwan to convert them to run on natural gas instead of fuel oil, sources added.

The minimum cost of financing a factory is EGP 900,000 which may vary according to ovens’ number in each factory, sources noted.

This came as part of NBE’s efforts in reducing the emissions produced by factories powered by diesel and fuel oil.
NBE also considers financing 19,000 bakeries powered by fuel oil in Cairo to run on natural gas. Sources said financing this process in one bakery costs between EGP 40-50 thousand, varying according to the areas of these bakeries.