Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) acquire 16 percent of the Industrial Development and Workers Bank - Egypt's portfolio of loans to waver between 950 million Egyptian pounds and 1 billion Egyptian pounds ($112.5 million) The bank's executive board member Hamdy Azzam said that it is aiming to increase the SME's portfolio by 30 percent over the next four years as part of the central bank's initiative to finance SMEs sector. In January 2016, 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. The initiative aims at fighting unemployment, increasing the gross domestic product (GDP), and achieving sustainable development. He added that the bank is in the process of signing a contract with the Social Fund for Development during the current month to grant 100 million Egyptian pounds to finance small businesses. He added that the SMEs encompass 75 percent of the employment while the large projects include 25 percent of the employment; that's why the banks should consider this sector more closely.
