Decisions on funding SMEs projects not linked to banks exchange investments

Tarek Amer, the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), said on Thursday that the banks' investment in the stock exchange market has nothing to do with the CBE's recent decisions to encourage offering loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Speaking to MENA, Amer said that the decisions would not affect the banks' shares at the stock exchange.

The CBE on Sunday issued guidelines on how to give incentives to banks to encourage them to participate in a comprehensive program to help finance SMEs.

On Thursday, Egypt's stocks tumbled when the benchmark index EGX30 sank 5.6 percent to its lowest since October 2013 at 5,857 points.

The bank's new SMEs' financing program was announced as part of an ambitious plan by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Saturday to assist smaller businesses.

Sisi said that the loans, which would total an estimated EGP 200 billion, could benefit up to 350,000 projects, providing jobs to over four million employees.