The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will launch its departmental paper entitled Scaling up Access to Finance for SMEs in MENA in a seminar which will take placeat the American University in Cairo, Tahrir campus. The Event is co-hosted by the American University in Cairo, the Economic Research Forum, and the IMF. 

Discussions will focus on how small and medium-sized enterprise financial inclusion is at the core of the economic diversification, growth, and job creation challenges many countries are facing. This is especially pertinent in the MENAP, which lags behind other regions when it comes to SME access to finance. The paper aims to highlight the macroeconomic relevance of this issue and calls for a holistic approach to financial inclusion strategies. 

The event is webcast live here 

When: February 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. 

Where: American University in Cairo, Tahrir campus 

What: Panel discussion and Q&A 

Who: 

• Opening remarks by Dean Sherif Kamel, AUC School of Business 
• Panel Moderated by Jihad Azour, IMF Director of Middle East and Central Asia Department 
• Presentation by Nicolas Blancher, IMF Advisor 

Speakers:

• Tarek Amer, Central Bank Governor, Egypt 
• Holger Wiefel, Regional Head for SME F&D, EBRD 
• Ibrahim Al Badawi, Director, ERF 
• Dante Campioni, CEO, Alex Bank 
• Sam Quawasmi, CEO of Eureeca 

Documents and related material to be placed under embargo until February 12, 10:00 a.m. Cairo time (3:00 a.m. DC time): 

• IMF departmental Paper 
• Infographic 

Documents will be placed under embargo on Sunday, February 10, 12:00 a.m. DC time, February 11, 7:00 a.m. Cairo time. 

IMF Press Center( presscenter.IMF.org). Registration and login for the IMF Press Center: http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/imfmbc/index.asp 

Attendance: The event is open for press by invitation only

Media contact: Randa Elnagar relnagar@IMF.org

EMBARGO POLICY REMINDER: 
As per the terms of membership in the Media Briefing Center, any journalist who has advance access to documents via the Media Briefing Center must refrain from publishing stories that draw from the embargoed documents once this privileged access is granted. Journalists and the news organizations that violate this embargo policy will be barred from access to any embargoed IMF documents for a minimum of six months. News agencies should take extreme care to ensure that media clients also follow the established embargo.