The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) plans to inject funds into the Egyptian public and private sectors during the current year of approximately $1bn, according to Amr Kamel, executive vice president of the bank. On the sidelines of the conference to announce arrangements for the inaugural Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), Kamel told Daily News Egypt that Afreximbank lent $200m to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation this year. Kamel pointed out that the bank had managed a loan of about $200m for Telecom Egypt last month and provided a loan of $95m last week to the National Bank of Egypt. He noted that the bank is considering many loan operations in the Egyptian market during the current period for a number of holding companies, including Elsewedy Cables. Regarding the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE)'s indebtedness, Kamel revealed that the CBE has repaid all the loans it received from Afreximbank, which amounted to about $3.7bn; the last of its installments was paid last week, with a value of $500m. Further, Afreximbank is planning to provide Egyptian factoring companies with $150m in funding over the next five years, Kanayo Awani, managing director of AfreximBank's Intra-African Trade Initiative, told Daily News Egypt. The funding programme, which began this year, will expire in 2021. The bank is currently in talks to provide the Egyptian Factoring Association with funding to finance SMEs in Egypt.
