The value of Egypt's microfinance portfolio has steadily increased during 2018 registering 17.7 billion Egyptian pounds at the end of December 2018, the Egyptian Microfinance Federation (EMF)'s head Mona Zulficar said. The microfinance portfolio registered 10.9 billion pounds a year earlier, with an increase of 63%. In addition, the number of beneficiaries has increased by 25 percent reaching 3.1 million clients instead of 2.5 million clients in the comparable period. Zulficar added that the woman is still capturing the lion share of the total portfolio receiving 50 percent and registering 67.7 percent of the number of beneficiaries. NGOs and associations are ranked first in terms of total financing and number of clients in the aforementioned period, with a total active portfolio of 6.3 billion pounds and an active customer base of 1.9 million capturing 35.4 percent of the total market. Meanwhile, companies were second in terms of total beneficiaries with total number of 875 clients by the end of December 2018 and third in terms of thevolume of credit portfolio granted to clients registering 5.2 billion pounds which is 29.5 percent of the total funds.
