The World Bank (WB) will provide $600 million to fund Egypt’s small and micro- enterprises, said Lead Financial Economist in the WB’s Finance and Private Sector Development Department of the Middle East and North Africa Sahar Nasr. The loan comes as part of the WB’s keenness to increase coopera- tion with the Egyptian govern- ment in confronting the social and economic challenges it faces, she added.
These projects will be executed with the Social Fund for Devel- opment (SFD) to help create job opportunities and control the high
unemployment rates, especially among youth and in the neediest areas, she highlighted.
WB-financed projects in Egypt focus on several areas, including: managing and developing inte- grated irrigation systems; improv- ing education; SMEs, developing wind energy and electric power stations, including the Ain Sokh- na power plant; controlling pollu- tion; and building infrastructure for integrated sewage systems.
Total funding from the WB has reached $5.4 billion over 25 pro- jects, according to WB Former Country Director for Egypt, Yem- en and Djibouti Hartwig Schafer.
