Gazette Publishes Sisi’s Approval of AMF Loan to Egyptian SMEs

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued a presidential decree No 96 of 2019 approving a loan extended by the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) to support establishing Egyptian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The loan amounts to 87.700 million Arab Dinar (equivalent to US$ 367.753 million).

The loan aims to support the Egyptian central bank's efforts to strength banking supervision and governance, in order to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth as well as enhancing the resilience of the Egyptian economy in face of external shocks.

The program is composed of three pillars: developing the government financial securities depository system, strengthening the banking sector’s efficiency, and enhancing the role of the credit guarantee company to support financing small and medium size enterprises.

The cooperation between Egypt and the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF)  goes beyond financial aspects, as the latter offers, through its Economic Policy Institute, and in collaboration with other relevant international organizations, opportunities for capacity building for Egyptian government officials affiliated to monetary, fiscal and statistical government organizations.

So far, 533 Egyptian trainees have participated in the training programs and workshops organized by the AMF, covering wide range in economic, banking, monetary and fiscal areas.

Egypt has also benefited from the technical assistance provided by the AMF within the framework of its various initiatives that aim to develop the financial sector in its member countries.

In this regard, the AMF has provided, in cooperation with international financial institutions, technical assistance to Egypt to develop payment and settlement systems, credit information systems and secured lending systems, in addition to supporting the Egyptian government’s efforts to enhance financial inclusion.

The fund's main objectives are to correct and balance the payment of its member states, remove payment restrictions between members, improve Arab monetary cooperation, encourage the development of Arab financial markets and to facilitate and promote trade between member states.