Microfinance increases to $2.37bln in June 2022

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has announced that the size of microfinance offered by banks and financial institutions increased to EGP 64.6bn for 4.5 million beneficiaries in June 2022, compared to EGP 6.4bn in December 2016.

In its recent financial stability report, the CBE indicated that it will continue to finance and follow up on the implementation of the institutional upgrade project for category “C” microfinance associations in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which aims to provide technical support to associations in order to raise their institutional capabilities and upgrade them to category “B”.

The CBE revealed that banks are obligated to increase the portfolio of loans and credit facilities directed to SMEs to reach 25% of their total credit portfolios, with the requirement that the percentage directed to small projects not be less than 10%.