The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) will meet with the Cairo Chamber of Commerce this week to discuss the final draft of the mutual cooperation protocol which targets developing and strengthening the operational capital of a number of retail stores.
The bank currently plans to develop 150,000 food retail stores with finance starting from EGP 10,000 for each, said Soha Soliman, head of SME finance department at NBE.
Soliman affirmed the bank’s interest in financing all industries including micro, small and medium enterprises, the backbone of national economy.
NBE earlier signed a protocol of cooperation with the Division of Plastics of the Chamber of Chemical Industries to support the sector’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
NBE’s portfolio of SME finance registered EGP 890 million in Q1 of FY 2011/12. Such finances went to 3,000 customers. NBE plans to increase the value of SME finance portfolio to EGP 4 billion by the end of FY 2012/2013.
