Cairo: The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Bank of Alexandria (Alexbank) signed Monday a financing agreement worth €20 million to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt, the EIB said in a statement.

The deal comes under the EIB’s Economic Resilience Initiative (ERI), aimed at boosting the prospects for more resilient and inclusive growth, enhancing financial inclusion and creating sustainable jobs in the country.

According to the statement, "the finance agreement is the first EIB credit line for SMEs provided through Alexbank, which will channel the funds at affordable rates to Egyptian businesses, thereby enhancing economic growth by catalyzing and accelerating private investment."

Alexbank, which is a part of the Intesa San Paolo Group, is one of Egypt's leading private sector banks, providing financial and non-financial services to its clients, including innovative products aiming to support development of local SMEs and reaching out to traditionally underserved categories like women, young people and entrepreneurs in rural areas.

“We are pleased to join forces with a new important partner in Egypt. This partnership with Alexbank will contribute to speeding up the delivery of finance to support the investments of small and medium-sized enterprises in Egypt," EIB's Director for EU Neighboring Countries said.

She added that SMEs play an important role in job creation, innovation and sustainable economic growth. "As the bank of the European Union, our aim is to contribute to building a stronger and resilient economy in Egypt – as well as in the region – that creates more jobs. Private sector support in the European neighborhood region is a priority under the EIB’s Economic Resilience Initiative."

Dante Campioni, Managing Director and CEO of Alexbank said: “We are glad to start this cooperation with EIB whose aim is to feed the expansion of Egyptian SMEs, recognized backbone of Egypt’s economic sustainable growth."

He added that this agreement which is the first cooperation between ALEXBANK and the EIB in the SMEs field will increase the number of partnerships held by Alexbank with prestigious financial and non-financial entities, to consolidate joint efforts towards the support of this vital sector, which he considered the main contributor to the job creation in Egypt.

Source: Egypt Today

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