Egyptian largest state-owned lender, National Bank of Egypt (NBE) says it has pumped 42 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.5 billion) as part of the central bank's (CBE) mortgage finance and SMEs initiatives. NBE's financing portfolio is divided into 35 billion pounds for small-sized projects, with an interest rate of five percent, besides 7 billion pounds among mortgage finance initiative for middle-income citizens, its vice chairman said on Monday. These remarks were made by the bank's vice chairman Yehia Abul Fotouh on the sidelines of Seamless North Africa FinTech Conference taking place on June 17-18 for the second year in row. In 2016, the CBE announced an initiative to finance SMEs. Under the initiative, 20 percent of bank loans should be allocated to SMEs within four years. The banks are to offer around 200 billion Egyptian pounds to finance 350,000 companies and thus create job opportunities for more than four million people. Seamless North Africa is being held under the auspices of Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli, bringing together different players, such as financial institutions, startups, and venture capital. It is meant to assess new techniques and strategies to offer better services for citizens and consumers in the Arab world. Seamless North Africa is a conference organised by Terrapin, under the patronage of the central bank of Egypt in partnership with the Arab Federation of e-commerce (AFEC) and the strategic partner is The Egyptian Banking Institute.
