Nevine Badr El-Din, the Head of the Central Microfinance Sector at the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), said on Tuesday that the agency had allocated EGP 1.4bn to the "Decent Life" initiative to develop the rural areas nationwide. During a workshop organised by MSMEDA on the new project development law on Tuesday, Badr El-Din added that further EGP 1bn were pumped to finance various projects, including EGP 900m for micro-enterprises. She noted that a new financing product will be launched by the agency that will prioritise solar energy during the coming period. Moreover, Hany Emad, the Head of the Central Sector for Financing Small Projects at MSMEDA, said that the agency pumped EGP 2.7bn into small projects in 2021, including about EGP 1bn in direct lending and EGP 1.6bn through banks. He added during that the agency began to raise the amounts allocated for loans and modernising the credit policy after the law was issued, bringing the maximum limit for small projects to EGP 15m and to about EGP 30m for medium projects for the first time after the adoption of the law. He stated that the agency is currently focusing on new industrial projects and participating in the state's initiatives to increase exports and reduce imports and other initiatives. Emad indicated that about EGP 1.5bn will be allocated from the state budget to support non-financial services provided by the agency to projects, starting from the next fiscal year, which will start next July. He explained that a specialised product has been launched from the agency for projects in the industrial complexes implemented by the state in the recent period, and it is targeted to pump about EGP 300m this year to these projects and finance 25% of the projects in the complexes. Furthermore, Emad said that the agency finances investment funds working in the field of venture capital to finance entrepreneurship projects of this type, as about $40m of the $50m agreed upon with the World Bank since 2018 have been allocated to be pumped into this sector. He added that this is to attract $500m in foreign funds in the field of venture capital in Egypt during the coming period. Emad stated that the agency is also working to diversify financing channels to achieve maximum benefit from the branches of the intermediary agencies that it deals with to reach the largest segment of citizens in all governorates. He explained that the agency provides different types of financing to meet the diverse needs of customers. There is short- or medium-term financing to finance the needs of working investment, machinery and equipment needed for projects, whether new or existing.
