The second annual leasing conference will kick off next October 11th in Cairo in a bid to stimulate unconventional funding mechanisms in the country. Entitled "New Visions to activate funding tools", the event will take place under the auspices of Egypt's government as well as the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA). The conference aims to tackle leasing mechanism among other financing sources offered to the investors to finance various projects in Egypt. Egyptian government currently seeks to adopt unconventional funding tools in favour of national projects, without placing burden on the country's state budget. Among these tools is the leasing mechanism. More than 500 leaderships and executives of major companies operating in the Egyptian market as well as representatives of leasing firms will take part in the event. The attendees will tackle means to develop Egypt's leasing sector in order to achieve higher growth rates, by discussing major obstacles. There are only 27 active leasing firms out of 222 firms listed in the EFSA; a signal that suggests more measures needed to promote this financing mechanism and its significant role in fulfilling the financial needs of all the projects in Egypt. Additionally, officials in the EFSA will present during the conference the latest developments in the new leasing draft bill and its provisions, which are expected to positively affect the country's leasing sector by removing obstacles faced by leasing firms. At its main session, the conference will highlight the leasing sector's ability to take part in a scheme to develop the transport, education, and programming sectors. Leasing reflects one of the key non-banking funding solutions which can help firms narrow the investment costs of projects. Meanwhile, Sherif Samy, Chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA), recently announced that the country's leasing activity recorded a 12 percent y-o-y growth in the first half of 2016. Leasing contracts reached 11 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.2 billion) in the first half of 2016, compared to 9.88 billion pounds in the same period a year earlier. However, the number of leasing contracts fell to 1239, from 1367. Properties and lands topped the list of activities by acquiring the largest market share 73 percent of leasing contracts worth 8 billion pounds. Coming in the second position, equipment and machinery captured a 9.4 percent market share of leasing contracts worth one billion pounds. Trucks ranked third seizing an 8.2 percent share of leasing contracts worth 905 million pounds.
