The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, announced on Monday a partnership with Kandil Steel, one of the largest flat steel downstream re-rollers in the Middle East and Africa, to help the company improve its operational and financial resilience, support private sector jobs, and reduce its carbon emissions. The IFC will provide a $25m loan to Kandil Steel, which will help the company meet its growing working capital needs and secure the additional raw materials it needs to produce high-quality steel products. The IFC will also offer advisory support to help the company develop a decarbonisation programme to lower its carbon footprint and improve its environmental and social practices. Egypt is the largest crude steel producer in the Middle East and North Africa, and the steel industry is a key contributor to the local economy. Kandil Steel is one of the top ten exporters in Egypt, trading with more than 40 countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. It employs more than 1,000 people and contributes to Egypt's economic diversification, exports, and import substitution. "Our partnership with IFC provides a strong push to our future sustainable growth, supporting our expansion plans to increase production from 500 to 800 thousand tons of steel by the end of 2024," said Amr Kandil, CEO of Kandil Steel. "IFC's financing, provided amid a very challenging local and global environment, will help us sustain a growing presence in our export markets while continuing to fulfill our home market needs in alignment with the national Egyptian directive to deepen and expand the manufacturing industry value add in our economy." "Our partnership with Kandil Steel will boost export-oriented economic growth in Egypt," said Cheick-Oumar Sylla, IFC Regional Director for North Africa and the Horn of Africa. "This project will help the company to meet the growing demand for steel products in Egypt and its many export markets – and will contribute to decarbonizing the manufacturing industry." The IFC's investment is aligned with two key pillars in the World Bank Group's Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Egypt FY23-27: creating more and better private sector jobs in Egypt's manufacturing sector and improving resilience to shocks. The IFC has an investment portfolio amounting to nearly $1.6bn and an active advisory portfolio of $33m. The IFC's projects have supported the private sector in key areas such as access to finance, fintech, climate finance, manufacturing, infrastructure and renewable energy, healthcare, and gender inclusion.
