The National Bank of Egypt’s (NBE) provided EGP5.2bn to more than 7,000 projects in nine months as part of CBE initiative, and its total loan portfolio of SMEs and micro-enterprises reached more than EGP27bn and 51,000 projects by October-end, Chairperson Hisham Okasha stated. “During the first four months of FY16/17, NBE managed to achieve a leap in the field of lending SMEs, as it injected financing worth EGP2.7bn into these projects with a 30% increase compared to the same period in FY 2015/2016,” Okasha said. This is compared to only EGP6bn in June 2011, and EGP18bn in June 2015, he said, adding that the bank aims to expand the portfolio to EGP72bn within the next four years. (Daily News Egypt)