The Industrial Development and Workers Bank of Egypt (IDBE) considers injecting new finances of about EGP 210 million to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) portfolio during the second half of the year, raising its SMEs portfolio to EGP 500 million. The bank offered about EGP 290 million worth of finances to SMEs by the end of the first half of the current year, said Hamdi Azzam, board member at IDBE. The bank was targeting increasing the value of SMEs portfolio to EGP 350 million by the end of the year, but the bank's high growth rates posted in the first half of the year has made the bank increased its target level, he added. He affirmed on the importance of supporting SMEs in the upcoming period as these enterprises provide many job opportunities in low-cost projects. The bank achieved profit of EGP 25 million to EGP 30 million for the first time after consecutive losses since 2004.
