Egypt-based Faisal Islamic Bank's portfolio of mortgage finances pursuant to the central bank's initiative has reached around two million Egyptian pounds ($112,598), Product Manager-Mortgage Unit Mahmoud Idris said Monday. Idris further told Amwal Al Ghad that the bank had financed around four middle-class housing units as pursuant to the central bank's mortgage initiative, and is studying to finance four more. Faisal Bank is applying the Islamic financing structure Murabaha in providing mortgage finances as pursuant to the central bank's initiative. In 2014, Egypt's Central Bank (CBE) has launched an initiative worth 20 billion Egyptian pounds (US$1.4 billion) to stimulate the mortgage sector. Through the new initiative, CBE would lend Egypt's working banks 20 billion pounds for 20 years to be lent to people of low-income and average-income at 7 and 8 percent interest, respectively, in order to buy housing units in new urban communities.
