Qatar National Bank AlAhli S.A.E. (QNB AlAhli) is to sign this month its first contract with Social Fund for Development (SFD) to finance small businesses in Egypt. The anticipated contract will be at value of 50 million Egyptian pounds ($6.4 million). QNB AlAhli is planning to increase its support for the small and medium businesses in Egypt as part of the central bank's initiative to finance SME sector, a senior banking source with knowledge told Amwal Al Ghad Thursday. In January, Egypt's central bank launched an initiative to finance SMEs, and obliged banks to provide a minimum of 20 percent of their total loans portfolio to this sector within four years. Moreover, the CBE mandated that banks must submit a comprehensive outline indicating how they will implement the CBE's recommendation.
