The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has announced that the size of microfinance offered by banks and financial institutions increased to EGP 64.6bn for 4.5 million beneficiaries in June 2022, compared to EGP 6.4bn in December 2016.
In its recent financial stability report, the CBE indicated that it will continue to finance and follow up on the implementation of the institutional upgrade project for category “C” microfinance associations in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which aims to provide technical support to associations in order to raise their institutional capabilities and upgrade them to category “B”.
The CBE revealed that banks are obligated to increase the portfolio of loans and credit facilities directed to SMEs to reach 25% of their total credit portfolios, with the requirement that the percentage directed to small projects not be less than 10%.
It also pledged EGP 2bn to the credit risk guarantee company to cover part of the risks associated with financing SMEs.
In addition, the CBE said that banks operating in the Egyptian market pumped financing worth EGP 48.3bn to about 436,900 customers within the framework of the real estate financing initiative for low and middle-income individuals until the end of September 2022.
The CBE explained that this initiative will continue under the management of the Ministry of Finance.
There are two real estate financing initiatives, the first with a decreasing interest of 8% and the second with a decreasing interest of 3%, as the two initiatives continue with the reduction of the maximum support limit for the 8% initiative to EGP 15bn, and the continuation of the maximum limit for the 3% initiative at EGP 100bn, provided that the Ministry of Housing bears the cost of the interest rate difference and compensates banks for the price difference in the market.
