The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (ERBD) Regional Director for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region, Gantt Hickman, said on Saturday that the bank has injected €4 billion of investments in Egypt out of €8 billion investments total in the region since 2012.
Hickman asserted during the Economic Research Forum symposium in Cairo that the bank is keen on supporting Egypt’s economic reform program.
Hickman clarified that the private sector would help the country to achieve sustainable and comprehensive growth through creating job opportunities for women and youth, as well as providing financial support to improve education and support the government’s organizational and supervisory capabilities.
University of Minnesota Professor Raji Assaad confirmed that according to data of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the private sector has created jobs at rates higher than the governmental jobs, which helped in increasing the country’s GDP.
He added that the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has increased since 2006 after the Egyptian market only joined giant and micro-enterprises.
The EBRD has financed 16 new solar power plants with a capacity of 750 megawatts at $500 million, making it the single largest investor in renewable energy in the country.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
