National Bank Kuwait – Egypt (NBK – Egypt) has become the fifth bank to benefit from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) trade finance support. The EBRD has agreed to issue the bank with a US$20mn trade facility to support Egypt’s exporters and importers under the Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP).

Through the facility, the EBRD will issue guarantees in favour of international commercial banks covering the political and commercial payment risk of the transactions undertaken by NBK – Egypt. The bank will also benefit from the EBRD’s technical co-operation projects in trade finance.

“We are very pleased to welcome a reputable bank like NBK – Egypt to our trade facilitation programme, which will allow NBK to provide additional support to their Egyptian clients, contributing to the country’s overall economic growth,” says Philip ter Woort, EBRD director for Egypt.

Yasser Ismail Hassan, managing director of NBK – Egypt, adds: “We are very pleased to extend our co-operation with EBRD by adding the TFP to our platform. We are looking forward to expanding our trade finance services to our clients by adding EBRD guarantees. This step stems from the confidence of the National Bank of Kuwait Group in the Egyptian economy.”

The EBRD signed another loan agreement with NBK – Egypt for $US50mn in October 2015 for on-lending to Egyptian small and medium enterprises.