The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) received EGP 170 million in cash under the debt-settlement deal signed with Imac For Paper Manufacturing Company which owes EGP 800 million to the bank, said Yehia Abou El-Fotouh, head of Non-Performing Loans Department at the bank. The agreement states that the company shall pay EGP 50 million as downpayment as well as US$ 7 million, but the company paid EGP 120 million as settlement down payment as well as EGP 50 million recently. Therefore, the total amount that the company paid is EGP 170 million. The agreement obligates the company to pay the remaining value of the debt in half-yearly installments for 7 years, sources added. NBE plans to reduce non-performing loans portfolio to EGP 6 billion in the current fiscal year, down from EGP 7.4 billion as of the end of last March. The bank finalized 2600 settlement agreements with EGP 22.6 billion worth of debts as of the end of March, out of EGP 30 billion worth of bad debts in 2008. The NPLs accounted for 8% of the bank's loan portfolio. The lender targets to reduce such rate to 3% in the upcoming years. NBE said it has 350 defaulting customers, and most of which are young customers, as there are only 6 delinquent senior customers.
