The cabinet approved the initiative aimed to support the industrial and agricultural projects in the country in its weekly meeting in Cairo on Wednesday.

According to the cabinet, the government will allocate EGP 150 billion to the five-year initiative including nearly EGP 140 billion to finance capital money and EGP 10 billion to finance the purchase of capital goods.

The amount of credit available to each company will be determined by the volume of its business and the banking rules, provided that the maximum credit limit allowed for each company does not exceed the amount of EGP 75 million pounds.

The initiative also stiplutates that each company has transactions with maximum two banks from those participating in the initiative.

The companies joining the initiative bear a reduced interest rate of 11% as the Ministry of Finance bears the difference in interest rate.

In late December, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) raised the interest rates by three percent (300 bps). The MPC raised the overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation to 16.25 percent, 17.25 percent, and 16.75 percent, respectively.

Among other details revealed is that it is prohibited for any client to use any of the credit available under this initiative to pay any other debts within the timeframe of the initiative.

The executive mechanisms of the initiative are currently being developed in coordination between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Egypt, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, and other concerned parties according to the cabinet.