Renewing SME initiative for another 4 years: CBE’s Amer

Renewing SME initiative for another 4 years: CBE’s Amer

Banks pumped EGP 160bn to finance 86,000 small, medium enterprises. Comments Off on Renewing SME initiative for another 4 years: CBE's Amer. Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer said the bank intends to renew the initiative for small and medium projects for another 4 years.. The initiative obliges banks operating in the Egyptian market to direct at least 20% of their loan portfolios to SMEs, and the micro-projects were also included in the initiative at a later time.. According to Amer, the banks have so far pumped EGP 160bn to finance 86,000 small- and medium-sized projects, pointing out that there are many banks that have already reached the percentage set in the initiative, and there are other banks that could not meet that ratio.. During the interview, Amer stressed the importance of the decision to liberalise foreign exchange and its role in providing the foreign exchange needed to move the economy.. Amer said that while the banks operating in the Egyptian market were suffering from the scarcity of foreign exchange before the floating decision, during the three years following the flotation they exported foreign exchange in excess worth $36bn, and the balances of Egyptian banks