International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, look for providing new finance for Egypt for the next fiscal year (FY) 2018/2019 estimated at approximately $ 1.5bn, according to Dimitris Tsitsiragos, the IFC's Vice President. Tsitsiragos told Daily News Egypt that the IFC seeks financing two projects in logistics such as energy logistics and import logistics of fuel to Egypt. Tsitsiragos noted that the amount of finance at the financial closure of the current FY18 including the solar project estimated at about $ 1.5bn. "The first priority for IFC is to see more opportunities in renewable, and thermal power gas power, gas fire and power plants is the second priority to the corporation," added Tsitsiragos "Egypt needs energy to keep manufacturing process, as manufacture creates jobs so this is the focal point of IFC's strategy." Furthermore, the IFC focuses on creating access to finance for Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through working with four private banks through providing credit lines to support SMEs because access to finance is also another challenge in Egypt, he said. He pointed out that SMEs funding is one of the main areas that IFC is trying to finance, in which the IFC provided and provides amount of money estimated at EGP 500m. Moreover, the IFC is trying to support entrepreneurship in Egypt. He noted that the finance provided by IFC in FY 2017 is an increase of around 30% compared to the previous year, when the IFC committed $1.3bn then. IFC's focus was on creating new markets, supporting power and renewable energy projects, and fostering entrepreneurs, including those who run high-potential technology start-ups. IFC invested over $11m in two Egyptian start-up accelerators: Algebra Ventures and Flat6Labs.
