The Agricultural Bank of Egypt (ABE) has signed three contracts with the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA) worth a total of EGP 292m, to finance small and micro enterprises. The contracts come as part of the Egyptian Rural Villages Development Project, whilst expanding the financing of agricultural projects, livestock, and related activities. They will also work towards providing all aspects of support and assistance to rural women. Nevine Gamea, Minister of Trade and Industry and Executive Director of MSMEDA, confirmed that the contracts coincide with celebrations for the International Day of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises. This year's celebrations took place differently after the successes achieved by the state to serve this sector. The minister pointed out that the EGP 100m contract for financing micro-projects is an activation of the new Enterprise Development Law No 152 of 2020. This will provide soft loans through ABE branches starting from EGP 1,000 to EGP 500,000 for micro enterprises across Egypt, but focusing particularly on rural areas in the Delta and Upper Egypt. Gamea said that women will benefit by receiving 30% of the number of projects funded by this contract, which finances various commercial, industrial, agricultural and service activities. This is through financing working capital with the possibility of financing machinery and equipment. The minister added that the two contracts allocated for financing small projects are worth a total of EGP 192m, and will provide soft loans of up to EGP 5m for small enterprises across Egypt. This will go towards financing the agricultural and livestock sectors and their value chains in rural Egyptian villages. The contracts will focus on financing small enterprises located within the targeted villages of the "Dignified Life" initiative's first phase, to achieve integrated and sustainable rural development. ABE Chairperson Alaa Farouk said that signing the financing contracts emphasises the fruitful and continuous partnership with the bank. The value of the financing contracts concluded between the two parties has amounted to about EGP 3.282bn so far. These have been fully utilised in financing about 158,000 loans for new and existing small enterprises. Farouk explained that the ABE is able to expand the scope of benefits from this funding through its network of 1,200 branches nationwide. These projects play a vital role in achieving the economic and social goals of the state.
