The Credit Risk Guarantee Company's (CGC) portfolio's contribution to the GDP increased from 2.3% in 2020 to 2.8% in 2021. Additionally, it supported the state budget by more than EGP 838m by providing 169,000 jobs. This data was released in light of the trends of the state and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) in support of various sectors in the Egyptian market to continue the progress recently achieved and enhance the growth of the national economy despite the repercussions of the pandemic that affected the economies of various countries around the world. The company has been keen on providing the necessary support for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The CGC has also managed to bring a secured bank credit portfolio to more than EGP 178m, from which more than 147,000 clients benefited and more than 50% of them were in the industrial and agricultural sectors in Upper Egypt and the Delta. For her part, Naglaa Bahr — the Managing Director of the CGC — said that within the framework of the directives of the state and the CBE to combat the repercussions of the coronavirus and ensure vision clarity along with the continuity of business and production as well as encourage banks to provide the liquidity necessary for the continuation of this business despite the high risks facing the whole world, the CGC managed to increase the percentage of youth projects guaranteed by the company. Youths accounted for 50% of the total beneficiaries of the programmes, amounting to around 147,000 beneficiaries. Women represent more than 25% of the total beneficiaries of the guarantee in the company's portfolio. Bahr pointed out that as a culmination of this great success, the CGC won the Silver Award as the best supporter of SMEs in terms of funding for the year 2021 in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This award was announced during a ceremony in the 2021 SME Finance Forum that was organised by the International Finance Corporation in cooperation with the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion. These successes come as a culmination of the great efforts with which the CBE has supported the march of the company towards development and restructuring since 2016 according to international insurance operating standards. These standards keep pace with the top practices to support the Egyptian economy and enable young people to establish their own projects after obtaining the necessary financing with facilities that have effectively contributed to the growth of the SMEs sector. Moreover, the CBE constantly supports the company to keep pace with the increase in demand for guarantee, which represented a major component of most of the CBE's initiatives to confront the coronavirus pandemic and its repercussions and the clarity of the monetary policy supporting the state's orientation to enhance the SME sector.
