The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has granted a $100 million loan to Banque Misr to lend to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as part of the multilateral bank’s broader strategies to support Egypt’s green economy.
EBRD said in a statement on Friday that Banque Misr also secured a technical assistance programme of $2.29 million funded by the bank and the High Impact Partnership on Climate Action—which is supported by the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Switzerland, TaiwanICDF and the UK.
“The EBRD is committed to promoting green investments in the economies where it invests and greening the financial system,” Heike Harmgart, EBRD Managing Director for SEMED said in the statement.
The funds will be invested in climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies and services.
Harmgart also told Reuters that EBRD will help finance the decommissioning of 5GW of inefficient gas-fired power plants in Egypt from 2023 while pledging up to $1 billion for renewables. The bank will raise as much as $300 million in sovereign financing for projects including work to stabilise the North African country’s grid, adding battery storage, developing the local supply chain for renewables and retraining workers.
Meanwhile, the UAE said on Monday that it raised its greenhouse gas emission reduction target to 31% by 2030, from 23.5%, in an updated version of the Gulf state’s second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.
EBRD has invested more than $9.77 billion in 152 projects in Egypt since 2012 when the bank opened its doors for business in the country.
