Egypt' banks have so far injected 14.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($809.9 million), as part of the mortgage finance initiative launched by Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), said CBE's deputy governor Lobna Helal. "The banks pump around one billion pounds per month among the initiative for low and middle income citizens," Helal further told Amwal Al Ghad. The Egyptian official referred that CEB is currently negotiating with the state's Finance Ministry to increase the share of the initiative to exceed 20 billion pounds within the next period. In 2014, CBE launched an initiative worth ten billion Egyptian pounds to stimulate the mortgage sector and finance the purchase of housing for earners with low and average incomes. The money is sent to banks, in the form of deposits, over a period of 20 years at low interest rates. Low-income citizens, who qualify to benefit from the programme, will borrow the money at yearly interest rate of seven percent and eight percent. In 2011, Lobna Helal was the first woman ever appointed as deputy governor of CBE. Though Helal resigned two years later, she wasn't gone long. She was appointed again by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2015. Now back with the CBE, Helal once again found herself in the midst of an uncertain economic situation. In July 2017, Forbes Middle East ranked Helal, as the second most powerful Arab businesswomen.
