Social Fund for Development is currently studying signing a contract with National Bank of Egypt and United Bank for lending them an Islamic sharia-compliant loan “Murabaha system” to finance SMEs.
Essam El-Korashy, head of SMEs development Group at SFD, said that there are negotiations with the two banks, pointing out that it is the first sharia-compliant finance to be offered by the Fund to commercial banks.
El-Korashy expected that there will be an increasing demand on the SFD’s sharia-compliant finance, but he declined to say the value of the finance contracts with NBE and UB until reaching a final agreement.
Sources said that NBE negotiates over a sharia-compliant finance of EGP 100 million to be directed to finance SMEs, as NBE plans to expand in its Islamic banking services.
