FEB allocates EGP 300 million to develop slums

The Federation of Egyptian Banks (FEB) allocated funding worth EGP 300 million ($42 million) to develop slums in about 15 regions throughout Egypt, said deputy chairman of FEB,  Hesham Okasha Wednesday during the annual People and Banks Conference June 11-13,  reported al-Masry al-Youm.
 
During the conference, Okasha stressed the importance of the banks’ role in completing the upgrade plans of Egypt’s informal areas through supporting social organizations.
 
This year’s edition of the conference was sponsored by the Arab Media Center and was attended by Egypt’s Central Bank Governor, Hisham Ramez along with prominent economists and bankers.
 
Governor of Cairo, Galal al-Saeed was quoted by state-run MENA saying that upgrading slums is a responsibility that falls on the shoulders of the state and NGOs as well, adding that he estimated the cost of developing the slums at 7 billion EGP.
 
“The elimination of Cairo slums is slated to go parallel with providing 42,000 housing units for residents of poverty-stricken areas,” he said.
 
The United Arab Emirates is financing the development of 11 different slum areas in Giza with 112 million EGP, Youm7 reported in November 2013.
 
According to Youm7, the conference  discussed restoring the investors’ confidence in the Egyptian market, in addition to  the initiative of the central bank of Egypt to fund Real Estate investments.
 
In February, the CBE launched an initiative for lending Egypt’s banks 10 billion EGP for 20 years to be allocated among people of low- and average-income at 7 and 8 percent interest, respectively, in order to buy housing units in new urban communities.
 
The conference was headed by chairman of International Trade Bank, chairman of the FEB, Hesham Ezz al-Arab along with secretary general of the conference, Mahmoud Montaser.
 
During the first day of the conference, Okasha said that there is enough liquidity at the banking system that can fund different projects, adding that the international financial and funding institutions are willing to give loans to Egyptian banks.
 
During his Monday meeting with the board of directors of the FEB general assembly, Okasha said they decided to form a committee tasked with enhancing the social responsibility of the FEB bank members.