Egypt's Social Fund for Development (SFD) plans to sign its first agreement with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) to finance small and medium-sized projects in Egypt, secretary-general Soha Soliman announced. SFD signed on Tuesday two French Development Agency-led financing contracts with the Industrial Development & Workers Bank of Egypt (IDWBE). Soliman also noted that the fund is also working on signing two more contracts with two banks; the Egyptian Arab Land Bank (EALB) and Arab Investment Bank. SFD is targeting increasing its cooperation with the Egyptian banks, she noted. Since inception in 1992 with a mandate to reduce poverty, the Egyptian Social Fund for Development has pumped more than EGP 25 billion to support national economy. Until 2014-end, SFD has provided EGP 14.8 million for small projects, EGP 5.5 billion for micro-sized projects, and EGP 4.8 billion in favour of infrastructure and community development projects, Soliman elaborated.
