SFD Egypt hopes to activate $40 mln finance deal with OFID soon

Egypt’s Social Fund for Development (SFD) says it seeks to activate a $40 million financing agreement with the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) before the end of first quarter of 2017.

The financing will go for several industrial, commercial, and services business in Egypt, SFD secretary-general Nevine Gamea told Amwal Al Ghad on Saturday.

Gamea further said that the OFID financing designated for industrial and commercial business would be repaid within five years, with a one-year grace period, at 7 percent diminishing interest rate.

Meanwhile, financing commercial and services projects would be repaid over three years, whether directly by the SFD or indirectly through local banks, the SFD official added.

Established by Egyptian Presidential Decree 40/1991, SFD is a socio-economic safety net to combat unemployment, alleviate poverty, improve living conditions and help attain comprehensive socio-economic development.

OFID is a development finance institution created to foster social and economic progress in the developing world.