A protocol of cooperation was signed yesterday 3 October between Damietta Furniture City Company and Banque Misr to finance small businesses and craftsmen. The EGP1.5 billion-worth-protocol comes within the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) recent initiative to finance small and medium-size industries. It aims to lend small craftsmen the funds needed for them to own their own units and furnish them with state-of-the-art equipment, in order to develop and modernise the furniture industry and stimulate exports.
Minister of Planning, Ashraf al-Arabi, Minister of Trade and Industry, Tareq Qabil, Damietta Governor, Ismail Abdel-Hamid Taha, and Deputy Governor of CBE, Gamal Negm attended the signing ceremony
Banque Misr and Damietta Furniture City are currently putting the final touches to the agreement between them by which the bank finances the construction and modernisation of the Damietta City for furniture, which the bank announced it will finance with up to EGP1.5 billion.
During the signing ceremony, Damietta Governor reminded that the Damietta Furniture City company was founded last July on a total area of 331 feddans (1.4 million square metres), with the aim of developing the furniture industry for which Damietta is famous, to give the city’s industry an edge in local and international markets. Its plan, he pointed out, includes industrial parks to host workshops and also areas allocated to large and medium-sized furniture factories, as well as an exhibition park and an area for business support services. It was founded with an authorised capital of EGP5 billion and issued capital of EGP521 million, through the contribution of the National Investment Bank, Damietta Governorate, Ayadi Company for Development and Investment, and the General Authority for Industrial and Mining Projects.
Ossama Salah, Chairman of Damietta Furniture City Company highlighted that Damietta Furniture City is the first and largest industrial zone specialising in furniture industry in the Middle East.
Watani International
4 October 2016