The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced that it has handed the National Bank of Kuwait Egypt (NBKE) a $25 million loan for the sake of boosting renewable energy and energy efficiency in Egypt.

The loan is extended under the EBRD’s Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF), which provides financing and advice to private-sector businesses to support Egypt’s green economy transition, with a financing pool of €150 million for energy-efficiency and renewable energy investments, the EBRD explained.

15 percent of the total loan amount is co-financed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), according to the EBRD.

It also clarified that the European Union (EU) will support the financing to NBKE with up to €2.5 million of EU funds for incentive payments to projects that are successfully implemented and verified.

The EU will provide a comprehensive technical assistance package amounts to €6.2 million for all participating financial institutions and their clients as well, and for policy dialogue.

The loan is meant for small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and households in the country in order to finance investments to alleviate the impacts of climate change, according to the EBRD.

“The GCF and EBRD’s partnership for transformation has seen the GCF support six EBRD programmes to the tune of US$ 830 million, catalysing more than US$ 3.6 billion in total project value. The GCF is the world’s largest climate fund, supporting developing-country efforts to respond to the challenges of climate change,” said the EBRD.

NBKE is an Egyptian joint stock company and a subsidiary of the NBK group.

It has been a partner of the EBRD since 2015, when it agreed an SME loan and a trade finance facility, followed in 2016 by an energy-efficiency loan under the Egypt GEFF.

Egypt – the largest EBRD’s operations country in the region – is a founding member of the EBRD, which has invested €7.7 billion in the country through 132 projects since the onset of its operations in Egypt in 2012.

EBRD is committed to promoting the green economy transition in Egypt by supporting efforts to diversify its energy mix and energy-efficiency investments is one of the Bank’s priorities in the Egyptian market.