KfW Development Bank is in final discussions to provide the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) a micro loans and technical assistance, said Burkhard Hinz, director of the KfW office in Cairo. “This project complements the provision of funds to banks like the National Bank of Egypt which then lend to small and mid-sized companies predominantly outside the Greater Cairo region,” Hinz told Daily News Egypt. Almost 150,000 loans have been granted to medium and small enterprises in North Africa and the Middle East through intermediaries—including in Egypt through the SANAD Fund for MSME, added Hinz. A cumulative of more than $400m in loans was facilitated since SANAD’s inception in 2011, with an average loan value of roughly $3,000, Hinz said, adding that the fund provides technical assistance to end-borrowers as well as financial institutions. The SANAD Fund for MSME provides funding and technical assistance to intermediary financial institutions, like banks, microfinance institutions, or leasing companies, which then lend smaller loans to end-borrowers, who are mostly small enterprise owners.

Source: Daily News Egypt April 09, 2018 17:03 UTC