The Middle East and North Africa region received $2.5bn in funding from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank affiliate, in 2013, said IFC General Manager Mouayed Makhlouf. The IFC funded private sector projects in various fields including infrastructure, energy, and small and medium enterprises. Egypt received the largest proportion of funding in the region, approximately $1bn, said Makhlouf. According to Makhlouf, "a loan worth $65m was provided to one real estate investment company in order to construct a mall in 6th of October City." The IFC is currently considering providing funds for two projects, Makhlouf said, who declined to disclose the targeted amount of funding. The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) signed a cooperation protocol with the IFC on Sunday in order to strengthen the competitiveness of workers in the sector. The IFC will provide up to 65% of the funding for this project, while the other 35% is funded by the ministry. Makhlouf said that Egypt's labour market requires large amounts of capital to be funneled into training programs in order to bridge the gap between market requirements and worker skills. Egypt's total labour force numbers 27 million and 300,000 graduates enter the market annually according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. The agency stated that inflation reached 13.3% during the second quarter of this year. Last month the World Bank agreed to provide a loan worth $300m to the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade to fund small and medium enterprises. The bank provided a loan valued at $500m to the Ministry of Petroleum in order to provide natural gas to 700,000 homes during the 2013/2014 fiscal year. "Egypt will attract investments in the coming period due to the development projects that the government plans to launch soon," Makhlouf said.
