During the French Prime Minister visit to Egypt between 10th and 11 October , Mr. Manuel Valls has attended jointly with his Egyptian counterpart Mr Cherif Ismaïl, the signature ceremony of a letter of intent for a credit facility total amount of 80 million euros, signed between the French Agency Group Development (AFD) and the Commercial International Bank (CIB).
Such credit lines couples, one of EUR 60 million provided by AFD to finance projects with climate’s benefits, particularly in the renewable energy sector and, in the other hand, the second is a credit facility of EUR 20 million provided by Proparco, AFD’s subsidiary dedicated to private sector’s financing, in order to promote access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
CIB and AFD’s Group have maintained for many years an active partnership, through various development programs, such as the industrial depollution program -EPAP-, in which CIB is a participating bank, or the SASME’s program, which aims to supporting agricultural SMEs, and whose grant agreement was also signed today.
Through such funding, the AFD’s Group and CIB want to encourage and promote private investment with environmental and/or climate benefits. The AFD’s credit facility should, in particular, help to catalyze financing from the banking sector, local and/or international, towards renewable energy projects led by the private sector. Thus, it supplements the AFD’s Group activities in supporting the development of renewable energies.
In addition, such funding is fully in line with the COP 21’s Agenda, whose one of the main issues focuses on the mobilization of private financing, in particular from banking institutions, to promote the fight against climate change.
Commercial International Bank – Egypt (CIB) is the leading private sector bank in Egypt, offering a broad range of financial products and services to its customers, which include enterprises of all sizes, institutions, households and high-net worth individuals. The Bank strives to provide clients with superior financial solutions to meet all of their financial needs. Having the strongest brand equity rightfully places CIB as the bank of choice for over 500 of Egypt’s largest corporations. Moreover, CIB shows tremendous upside potential within the bourgeoning Retail and SME Banking markets. Through its superior management, high operating standards, corporate governance best practices and premier training programs, CIB has succeeded in becoming the most profitable commercial bank operating in Egypt for more than 35 years.