04 Aug 2021

The IFC (International Finance Corporation), part of the World Bank Group, has announced that it will subscribe to the full value of Egypt’s first private sector green bond issuance. The five-year, non-callable fixed-rate bonds will be issued by the CIB (Commercial International Bank) at a value of USD100mn.

The CIB will use the proceeds to fund a portfolio of green loans offered to SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) and corporate clients. A portion of the proceeds will be used to fund capital expenditures for the CIB’s own green building. The green loans offered will be used for various sustainable, environmentally-friendly and climate-supporting investments such as renewable energy, wastewater and water management, green transportation, energy efficiency, and green buildings. The IFC will also offer advisory support to the CIB by consulting them on the development of a pipeline of eco-friendly projects such as industrial energy efficiency and green buildings. This includes technical assistance for the actual developers of these projects.

It is worthy to note that Egypt issued the first sovereign green bonds in the MENA region in September, worth USD750mn, on the LSE (London Stock Exchange). The issuance was five times oversubscribed.

(Source: IFC (English) (Arabic), al-Ahram (English), Egypt Today (English), Banky)