Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil announced that Damietta Furniture City will be officially inaugurated within a year.

Construction of the furniture technology centre is scheduled to be completed within a month in preparation for transferring equipment and devices to test the quality of the furniture.

At the signing of the cooperation protocol between the Damietta Furniture City company and Banque Misr to finance junior craftsmen, Kabil noted that this protocol is Damietta Furniture City’s first activity since its establishment in July. In addition, this protocol is one of the outcomes of the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) initiative to finance small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The cooperation protocol aims to provide the funding necessary to enable junior craftsmen to own units and equip them with the latest equipment with the aim of developing and modernising Egypt’s furniture industry, in addition to stimulating exports.

Ossama Saleh, chairperson of Damietta Furniture City, said that his company and Banque Misr are conducting the final arrangements to finance the development and construction of the city with up to EGP 1.5bn.

Saleh noted that the city is built on 331 acres and includes 2,000 workshops, 55 factories, and provides 20,000 job opportunities.

Mohamed El-Etreby, chairperson of Banque Misr, revealed that his bank targets to provide approximately 12.5% ​​of the CBE initiative to finance SMEs over four years.

According to a press statement issued by Banque Misr, the bank will provide EGP 1.5bn in loans for junior craftsmen in Damietta Furniture City for a year. The bank aims to provide a EGP 2bn loan to set up the new city.

Damietta Furniture City company was founded in July with an authorised capital of EGP 5bn and issued capital of EGP 521m with contributions by the National Investment Bank (NIB), the Damietta governor, Ayadi Company for Development and Investment, and the General Authority for Industrial and Mining Projects.