FEI expresses reservations about CBE’s EGP 16.8 bn debt relief program

The Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) has expressed some reservations about the CBE’s EGP 16.8 bn debt relief program,Al Mal reports. Their chief concerns have to do with implementing the debt relief program. There are no guarantees in the initiative that businesses that will benefit from it will invest in growing their companies, members of the FEI’s investment policy committee said. A businessman can get the relief, then up and sell their debt-free business right away. Other reservations include the lack of a system to monitor compliance with the terms of the initiative, they noted. The program, which was launched the CBE in June, will help around 3,500 business with assets less than EGP 10 mn, as well as some 337k individual borrowers, who have taken out loans from nine state bank Under the program, businesses targeted by the initiative will see a total of EGP 12 bn in relief, while individual borrowers will see some EGP 4.8 bn.