EGYPT – National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has secured US$100 million loan from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to support the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The loan will benefit Egypt’s SMEs in terms of energy efficiency, climate change mitigation and the introduction of adaptation technologies, according to the EBRD.
NBE will on-lend the funds to SMEs operating in the sectors of industry, commerce and agriculture to help improve the use of energy, water and land resources, as well as investments in high-performing technologies, which is expected to support the Egyptian economy, according to the EBRD.
It will also strengthen climate corporate governance at an institutional level.
EBRD provides typical green technologies in Egypt that are available through the Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) Technology Selector.
“This is the third EBRD GEFF loan provided to NBE, which will also benefit from a comprehensive technical cooperation programme,” said the EBRD.
NBE is the largest commercial bank in Egypt. Its cooperation with the EBRD, which began in 2013, has included credit and trade finance lines, also to support women entrepreneurs and youth-led and -owned businesses and to strengthen energy efficiency.
Egypt is a founding member of the EBRD. Since the start of its operations in 2012, the bank has invested more than €7.3 billion (US$8.89bn) in 130 projects in the country.
In 2020, EBRD invested more than €1 billion (US$1.22m) in the Egyptian market, President of the EBRD told Ahram Online in an exclusive interview published in April during her first official visit to Egypt.
EBRD implemented a programme in 2020 working with the international financial institutions to provide the liquidity needed for the local banks to expand financing to the private sector, including SMEs, in order to support them financially during the crisis.
Under this programme, the bank allocated US$800 million in financing to the Egyptian banks for lending to SMEs in a bid to support their financial resilience and to navigate the crisis.
