Featured Essay: EGYPT

In this essay, Magdy Moussa -- a Middle East/North Africa microfinance expert with over 20 years of development experience -- provides a practitioner's overview of regulation and supervision as they relate to the Microfinance (MF) industry in Egypt.

The first section introduces the reader to the range of MF services offered, the institutional setup of the various service providers, and a brief on the Egypt MF Strategy as it relates to regulation and supervision.

The second section of the essay outlines relevant laws and regulations concerned with the MF sector and service providers. It also provides a brief description of the entities entrusted with the role of supervision and the practical application thereto. Finally, the second section ends with a discussion of the impediments to sector development/service outreach that result from either legal aspects or supervision practices.

The third and last section highlights current activities underway to overcome the impediments and expand service coverage, with future recommendations, based on the author's experience as a practitioner.

About the Essays: The Essays on Regulation and Supervision series seeks to complement the country profiles by providing additional insights and perspectives on the experiences of lawyers, microfinance institutions, regulators, donors, and other microfinance stakeholders regarding specific microfinance legal and regulatory environments. A complete list of essays is available here.