Cairo – Mubasher: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided to issue guarantees worth EGP 100 billion for banks to boost lending to the private sector, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Tuesday, citing the CBE’s governor Tarek Amer as saying.

This move is part of the CBE’s initiative for supporting the industrial, agricultural, and contracting sectors, Amer noted.

Earlier in May, the CBE decided to broaden the base of beneficiaries of the EGP 100 billion industrial support initiative to include the contracting sector.

The initiative involves offering loans at a declining rate of 8% through banks to the industrial, agricultural, and now contracting businesses with annual sales of more than EGP 50 million.