Mohamed El-Etreby — the Head of the Federation of Egyptian Banks and Chairperson of Banque Misr — said that the volume of funds granted by the Egyptian banking sector to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) exceeded EGP 400bn in 2021. This reflects the great interest that the state and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) attach to this sector, which is vital in achieving sustainable development. El-Etreby added that Banque Misr's financing portfolio for the MSME sector amounted to more than EGP 61bn by the end of 2021, compared to only EGP 400m in 2014, pointing to the bank's launch of the "digital loan" product, which currently has a portfolio that amounts to about EGP 15bn. In his speech at the Conference on the Future of Small and Medium Enterprises 2030 Vision on Sunday, Al-Etreby indicated that Egypt has more than 3 million MSMEs, pointing out that the Egyptian state showed its early interest in supporting this sector before the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic, as the CBE launched several financing initiatives as well as the strategy of the National Council of Payments, which supported digital transformation, fintech, and financial inclusion for this sector. He explained that the measures taken by the state and the CBE to support MSMEs increased the volume of economic sectors that deal with the banking sector from 14% in 2014 to 51% in 2021. El-Etreby also pointed out that the CBE launched an initiative in 2016 to support MSMEs by obligating banks to allocate 20% of their credit portfolio in favour of these projects before raising it to 25% last year, believing in the great developmental role of such businesses in achieving economic development. Furthermore, he stressed that MSMEs have a major role in creating job opportunities, reducing unemployment, increasing exports, supporting the trade balance, providing products in the local market, replacing the local product with the imported one, alleviating pressure on the local currency, and integrating the informal economy into the official one. He also explained that with the goal of the UN to create 600 million jobs by 2030, the greatest role in creating these opportunities is represented by MSMEs that can create six out of 10 required opportunities. Additionally, El-Etreby said that the CBE took many measures to reduce the interest by 400 points for MSMEs and directed to postpone the payment of instalments for a period of six months, and the Credit Risk Guarantee Company of the CBE guaranteed bank financing for this sector with specific conditions as well as the expansion of digital transformation and increased reliance on fintech.
