Egypt's second largest public sector bank Banque Misr (BM) has injected around 370 million Egyptian pounds (US$47 million) among Mashrouak (your project) Initiative, Chairman Mohamed Eletreby told Amwal Al Ghad Tuesday. Mashrouak Initiative was launched by the state in March 2015 to provide job opportunities for youth in the field of small and medium-sized industries. The chairman said that the number of clients who got funds from the bank reached 12,500 from all state's governorates, asserting that BM keens to expand finances dedicated for the initiative due to the importance of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Eletreby stated that the government is currently paying great intention for SMEs due to their positive effects -socially and economically- besides providing job opportunities to lower unemployment rates and boosting the GDP. Banque Misr owns four loan tranches among Mashrouak Initiative : the first tranche starts from 1,000 to 25,000 pounds with no additional participation from the client, while the second tranche starts from 25,000 to 100,000 pounds in which the client has to pay 10 percent of loan's value. The chairman added that the third tranche starts from 100,000 to 250,000 pounds in which the client is set to participate with 15 percent of the capital of the project. The last tranche starts from 250,000 to 2.5 million pounds in which the client is set to participate with 30 percent of project's capital. In March 2015, Egyptian Ministry of Local Development, acting in cooperation with Banque Misr, the National Bank, and the Principal Bank for Agricultural Development and Credit, launched the Mashrouak Initiative.
