A number of international financial partners including the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the Chinese embassy expressed their support for Egypt's private sector, on Monday, at the fifth conference on donor funding, banking, and novel financial instruments. The conference was organised over two-days by the Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC). The private sector is the backbone of any economy and Egypt happens to have a lot of potential in boosting the participation of its private sector in the economy, Director of the KfW office in Cairo, Burkhard Hinz, said. KfW has ongoing portfolio in Egypt worth of €2.6bn. The organisation pays great attention to sectors of renewable energy, water, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and vocational training. "More than five million Egyptians benefited from our water projects. We care about the impacts that our projects make to improve the lives of the Egyptian people," Hinz noted, adding that his organisation financed projects in Egypt with €6.1bn since operations began in 1962. KfW is discussing with the Egyptian entities, including micro, small and medium enterprises development authority (MSMEDA), how to boost the cooperation in this key sector, Hinz said.
Creating job opportunities is crucial for Egypt because population growth is rapid. Essentially, this is something where SME's can support the government, Hinz elaborated. The private sector is increasing its activities and implements the projects that are agreed on by the Egyptian government with the support of the international financial institutions, Alaa Ezz, secretary general at FEDCOC, said. "The international financial institutions can't access Egyptian small investors, so they allocate credit lines to commercial banks that lend small businesses," Ezz added. China also seeks to boost its financial cooperation with Egypt, Xiao Jun Zheng, China's Chargé d'Affaires to Egypt said, adding that since the beginning of 2018, financial cooperation with Egyptian partners is remarkably developing. China Development Bank (CDB) and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) are intensifying the cooperation, he said. He shared that CDB signed an agreement with the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) worth $600m in September 2018.
