A lawmaker from Egypt’s Ahrar opposition party, Ragab Hilal Hamidah, has asked that Prime Minister Atef Ebeid be brought before Parliament to answer questions about alleged favoritism in the loan policies of Egypt’s four national banks.
The questioning process, called interpellation, is connected to the alleged monopoly of certain investors over bank loans, an issue on Parliament’s agenda in the next few weeks.
A banking report confirms that 343 investors have obtained 42 percent of all loans.
The London-based Al Sharq Al Awsat said that Hamidah’s request covered financial and administrative corruption in the loan processes of Egypt’s national banks.
The daily cited Hamidah as saying that “18 clients alone obtained more than 9 billion pounds as bank loans, and in the case of four of the biggest investors, each obtained more than 1 billion pounds in credit facilities.”
He said bank managers had brought about a decrease in the banks’ annual profits from 220 million pounds to just 30 million, and that the dual nationality consultants of the banks received sky-high salaries despite the availability of local expertise.
The opposition leader’s request also covered the issue of Egyptian banks' alleged structuring of loans in favor of the private sector.
The head of the economic research department at the Egyptian National Bank, the biggest of the four national banks, said that the bank loans were concentrated in the private sector.
Salawa Antari confirmed that 343 clients had managed to borrow 42 percent of the overall credit facilities available for the private sector last year.
“More than 28 clients obtained about 26.7 billion pounds, representing 13 percent of the facilities available to the private sector, and 13.5 percent of the overall shareholders’ stake in the Egyptian banking sector.
“The share of eight clients alone of these facilities amounted to 12.4 billion pounds, at an average of 1.551 billion pounds for each one, representing 60 percent of the overall Egyptian banking sector shareholders’ stake,” she added - Albawaba.com
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