By Walid Abdelazim An official at the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) stated that the bank is currently conducting studies into providing an additional EGP 300million for tourist projects in Marsa Alam and Taba. The official said that the NBE recently provided EGP 1million to the two cities, mostly for hotels to upgrade their insurance and strengthen security. He added that NBE is currently waiting the final verdict in a case involving transferring ownership of a hospital in Mohandeseen to a group of banks that includes NBE, the Egyptian Arab Land Bank (EALB), and the Arab Banking Corporation (ABC). The hospital's loans reached EGP 115 million, with 20% owed to NBE, 60% to EALB, and the remaining 20% to ABC. The official said that the economic court had ruled in favour of the three banks to acquire ownership of the hospital but that they are waiting for the decision to execute the transfer. NBE postponed EGP 2 billion in payments from tourist companies during the last year and a half because of the difficult circumstances facing the sector since the revolution. The bank succeeded in arriving at 1800 settlements during the last year and a half, recovering EGP 6.5 billion.
