By Nibal Zgheib

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt will benefit from a US$100 million loan by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) to support energy efficiency, climate change mitigation and the introduction of adaptation technologies.

NBE will on-lend the funds to SMEs in industry, commerce, and agriculture to help improve the use of energy, water and land resources, as well as investments in high-performing technologies, to support the Egyptian economy. Businesses can identify typical green technologies available in Egypt through the Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) Technology Selector.

This is the third EBRD GEFF loan provided to NBE, which will also benefit from a comprehensive technical cooperation programme. As part of the project, NBE will strengthen climate corporate governance at an institutional level.

NBE is the largest commercial bank in Egypt. Its cooperation with the EBRD, which began in 2013, has included credit and trade finance lines, also to support women entrepreneurs and youth-led and -owned businesses and to strengthen energy efficiency.

Egypt is a founding member of the EBRD. Since the start of its operations there in 2012, the Bank has invested more than €7.3 billion(US$8.9billion) in 130 projects in the country.