The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced on Thursday it had secured a $25 million loan to the National Bank of Kuwait Egypt (NBKE), a step aimed to boost renewable energy and energy efficiency in Egypt.
The loan is being extended under the EBRD’s Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF), which provides financing and advice to private-sector businesses to back Egypt’s green economy transition, the bank explained in a statement. The facility has a financing pool of €150 million for energy-efficiency and renewable energy investments.
The EBRD said 15 percent of the total loan amount is being co-financed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
The European Union (EU) will support the financing to NBKE with up to €2.56 million of EU funds for incentive payments to projects that are successfully implemented and verified. It will also provide a comprehensive technical assistance package of up to €6.2 million for all participating financial institutions and their clients, as well as for policy dialogue, the statement read.
EBRD said the funds would be on lent to Egyptian small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and households to finance investments to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
The application of new technologies is expected to promote the transition to an environmentally sustainable, low-carbon and climate resilient economy in Egypt, the bank added.
The GCF and EBRD’s partnership for transformation has witnessed the GCF support six EBRD programmes to the tune of $ 830 million, catalysing over $ 3.6 billion in total project value.
The GCF is the world’s largest climate fund, backing developing-country efforts to respond to the challenges of climate change.
NBKE, a subsidiary of National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), has been a partner of the EBRD since 2015, when it agreed an SME loan and a trade finance facility, followed in 2016 by an energy-efficiency loan under the Egypt GEFF.
To date, EBRD has invested €7.7 billion in Egypt through 132 projects, as promoting the green economy transition in Egypt by supporting efforts to diversify its energy mix and energy-efficiency investments is one of the bank’s priorities in the country.
