CAIRO: The EU-financed Industry Modernization Center has coordinated with a number of Egyptian banks for offering LE 890 million of loans to manufacturers over the fifteen months from July 2005 to September 2006, according to Helmi Abul Eish, the executive director of the IMC. Abul Eish added that the IMC has provided financial services to 861 manufacturers in various Egyptian governorates, including Cairo, Alexandria, and governorates of the Delta and Upper Egypt. He pointed out that the IMC helped 59 of its clients to obtain loans for purchasing machinery at a total of LE 10.9 million, encouraging them to increase their investments to LE 252 million. The IMC serves about 4,144 manufacturers in Egypt, including large and small and mid-size enterprises. About 1,472 of the IMC's clients are located in Cairo, compared with 1,148 manufacturers in the Delta region and 211 manufacturers in other parts of Egypt. The executive director of the IMC pointed out that his center also provided non-financial assistance to manufacturers, such as training, quality control and management services. He expected that such services will boost up exports of Egyptian manufacturers to LE 3 billion by the end of this year. Small manufacturers in Upper Egypt, however, have raised complaints about their inability to secure services from the IMC for the lack of business development agencies in Upper Egypt. They pointed to that the fact that only one business development agency exist in Sohag to serve about nine governorates in the Upper Egypt region.
