The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) announced a new Sharia-compliant loan agreement worth EGP 200 million ($28.7 million) recently signed with one of the firms working in industrial sector. The loan – which is in accordance with the Islamic funding system Murabaha (cost-plus financing) – is designed to finance the import of raw materials and equipments from abroad for the firm. A senior banking source with knowledge of the agreement told Amwal Al Ghad on Wednesday that the EGP200 million loan is likely to be in forms of letters of credit (L/C) given to the firm so as to import the necessary raw materials within the upcoming phase. The source further added that NBE's Islamic banking activities are based on two branches, the Dokki office which captures 80% of the total Islamic deposits and the Al-Azhar office with 20%. Last year, NBE granted Al-Watania Poultry a Sharia-compliant loan amounted to EGP 200 million via Murabaha funding system to finance the company's expansions including the purchasing of raw materials, machines and equipments.
