The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approved on Monday a $100 million loan to the National Bank of Kuwait – Egypt (NBK Egypt) to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The loan lies under the EBRD's Resilience Framework (RF) developed to address the impact resulting from the pandemic. The proceeds of the EBRD loan will be on-lent to local private small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and to corporates to cover liquidity needs that may arise as a result of COVID-19, according to the bank's loan project summary data. The loan will help NBK Egypt in providing funding to local SMEs and corporates experiencing slowdown and payment delays, or increased capacity needs following a massive fluctuation in demand. NBK Egypt – 95 percent controlled by Kuwait's largest bank NBK – is the 13th largest Egyptian bank by asset size and the 10th largest private bank with total assets of $3.9 billion.
