Subsidized loans designed to help tourism companies fund capex can now cover up to 90% of a project’s renovation costs, up from 75% under the ongoing EGP 50 bn tourism support program, according to a CBE circular (pdf) published today. Tourism companies can use the facilities to fund a larger portion of spending needed to expand hotels or add buses and other vehicles to their fleets.

Opex program gets extended: A parallel initiative giving operators access to 5% interest loans to cover wages, maintenance expenses, and operating costs will also now run its course on 31 December this year after having been previously scheduled to end on 30 June. The central bank had extended a helping hand to those companies at the onset of the pandemic to cover wages, commitments to suppliers, and maintenance besides an original bid to help renovate and upgrade tourism infrastructure