Banque Misr lands $160m from the ADB

One of Egypt’s biggest banks, Banque Misr, has obtained a $160 million loan from the African Development Bank (ADB) to assist in financing the nation’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

The loan is made up of a credit facility from the bank for $130 million and money from the Africa Growing Together Fund for $30 million (AGTF).

According to the ADB, the funds will give Banque Misr “long-term liquidity so it can extend loans to small and medium-sized enterprises and corporates operating in industry, information and communications technology and agriculture/agribusiness”.

The loan is a component of the company’s strategy for developing the private sector. The bank thinks that expanding SME loans will increase the nation’s industrial output and economic expansion while also generating more job possibilities.

The private sector “is a key driver of economic growth and job creation in Egypt,” according to Stefan Nalletamby, director of the African Development Bank’s Financial Sector Development Department, and the loan will “facilitate access to stable financing” for businesses.

Since it began doing business there in 1974, the ADB asserts to have “mobilised more than $6.7 billion in investments” in Egyptian companies.