Back to the complete issue
Sunday, 17 September 2017

AFI launches Financial Inclusion in the Arab Region Initiative, endorses Sharm El Sheikh Climate Change Accord

Chilling (but unsurprising) factoid of the Sharm financial inclusion gathering: Only 29% of adults in the Arab world have access to financial services, against 69% in Asia-Pacific, according to Al Maghrib Abdellatif Jouahri, chairman of the Union of Arab Banks.
Just as bad: Only one of every five SMEs is able to access bank financing even though they represent 80% of the regional economy, Jouahri added.

How big is the nation’s informal economy? It clocks in at about 40% of GDP, with wholesale and retail trading representing 35-40% of the total informal economy and manufacturing another 15% of it, according to CAPMAS numbers cited by Planning Minister Hala El Said. Most of the agricultural sector operates in the informal economy, she said. Separately, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said the informal economy is worth about EGP 1.6 tn annually.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi delivered a speech (pdf) at the opening ceremony of last week’s Sharm financial inclusion summit, in which he said the Egyptian people are fighting a battle for development at the same time as they combat terrorism (watch, runtime 10:12). The president highlighted Egypt’s accelerating economic growth and said he wants to shrink the informal economy and enhance access to financial services for women and young people.

CBE Governor Tarek Amer highlighted growth in subscribers to digital payment solutions (watch, runtime 8:19), suggesting that progress to-date is just the beginning. He also stressed that the float of the EGP made Egyptian manufactured goods globally competitive.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail spoke at the gathering, recapping the usual economic growth figures (watch, runtime 5:51).

Policy initiatives: The Alliance for Financial Inclusion’s ninth global policy forum was co-hosted by the Central Bank of Egypt and closed in Sharm El Sheikh on Friday with the launch of the Financial Inclusion in the Arab Region Initiative (FIARI). The initiative will support national-level financial inclusion programs. AFI also unanimously endorsed the Sharm El Sheikh Climate Change Accord, mandating AFI members “to pursue peer learning on practical policy solutions to the intersecting challenges of financial inclusion, climate change and green finance.”

CBE gets AFI leadership role: Deputy Governor Lobna Helal will be vice-chair of an AFI board committee on women and financial inclusion, and the central bank became a member of the institution’s board.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.