The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) sanctioned a loan of US$ 100 million to the National Bank of Kuwait Egypt (NBKE) or disbursing to private businesses to help the country fight against the economic impact of pandemic. The loan will be disbursed mainly to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES) in Egypt. This was revealed by International Cooperation Minister Rania Al-Mashat .
The Minister emphasized the importance of Egypt’s partnership with EBRD and how the bank loan will be used to enhance the liquidity
needs of SMEs experiencing slow down and payment delays. The loan also will be used for promoting effective public-private business partnerships.
The Ministry of International Cooperation held a meeting on April 2nd, with more than 100 representatives of international financial
institutions and private sector businesses to address the short, medium- and long-term impact of the pandemic. Various issues regarding
the development needs of Egypt were flagged at the meeting for accelerating the development process. The loan from EBRD is a follow
up of that initiative. Egypt expects more assistance from multilateral and non –governmental sources to tie down its resource crunch. Since the inception of its operations in Egypt in 2012, EBRD has invested around €6.5 billion in 115 projects, with a total of 56 percent allocation to private sector.
