The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has issued a loan of US$ 20 million to Crédit Agricole Egypt, a commercial bank and subsidiary of Crédit Agricole Group, for green investments.
It was shared that the loan includes US$ 3 million of concessional finance from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and will be used for on-lending to local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and households.
The financing for Crédit Agricole Egypt will be supported by the European Union (EU), with up to €2.05 million for incentive payments for successfully implemented and verified projects.
Further, the EU will provide a “comprehensive technical assistance package” of up to €6.2 million for all participating financial institutions and their clients and for policy dialogue, it was shared.
Crédit Agricole Egypt will extend the EBRD’s financing to private sub-borrowers, including individual households and SMEs operating in the residential, agribusiness, industrial, commercial and service sectors who are developing green, energy-efficiency, water-efficiency, renewable-energy and resource-efficiency projects.
This is the first programme of its kind in Egypt and in the wider southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region to have both a retail and a residential segment.
Crédit Agricole Egypt is also the fourth bank in Egypt to benefit from a loan under the GCF GEFF Regional Egypt Framework, the second Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF II) in the country.