The Industrial Development & Workers Bank of Egypt is in ongoing talks with the Egyptian Social Fund for Development (SFD) over new loans worth EGP 200 million. The new loans are designated to finance small and medium-sized projects in Egypt. In this respect, Hamdi Azzam – Executive Board Member at IDWBE – told Amwal Al Ghad that his bank's strategy for the coming years would focus on the SME sector, as for being a significant element of the Egyptian economic growth. To Finance micro-sized projects, the banking official further referred that IDWBE had granted Alexandria Business Association and Assiut Businessmen Association loans worth EGP 40 million and EGP 55 million, respectively. Moreover, Azzam said IDWBE's SME financing portfolio has surged to EGP 600 million by end of September 2014, from EGP 500 million a year earlier.
