Ghada Wali, secretary general of the Social Fund, said on Wednesday the fund is studying with the Ministry of Environment and the Cairo and Alexandria governorates the granting of low-interest credit facilities to local garbage collection companies, in a prelude to taper off and eventually end work with foreign companies.
“There are 42 small companies that we are negotiating with,” Wali said. “We will start with Cairo and Alexandria.”
Wali said the curfew has caused a lot of small and medium enterprises to be late in repaying their debts to the Social Fund. “This is also due to the general economic situation and the low purchasing power,” she said.
She said the fund is not taking legal action against defaulters. “We will reschedule their debts,” she said, adding that small projects were less affected because they are more flexible in terms of changing activity or laying off staff.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
