The increasing value of the dollar and the new value-added tax (VAT) are expected to result in an increase in the prices of social housing units, according to Mai Abdel Hamid, Head of  the Mortgage Finance Fund, reported Shorouk News.

Abdel Hamid’s comments came during a conference on financial leasing, entitled “New Visions for Reviving Financing Tools,” where she also stated that local banks have obtained EGP 4.1 billion from the Central Bank of Egypt as part of the Mortgage Finance Initiative. She noted that the loans were in turn allocated to 52,300 clients to finance low and middle-income housing.

Several companies are expected to take part in the Mortgage Finance Initiative, prime amongst which is the Egyptian Mortgage Refinance Company, which will be responsible for allocating funds to the other companies that will participate in the initiative.

The Mortgage Finance Fund has received approximately EGP 1.1 billion ($125 million) as part of a $500 million loan package from the World Bank, and is expected to receive more in the upcoming period that will be dedicating for housing units, added Abdel Hamid.

During the conference, it was revealed that the total value of financial leasing contracts amounted to EGP 15 billion in the first nine months of 2016, compared to last year’s EGP 13 billion during the same period, according to Head of Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) Sherif Samy, Daily News Egypt reported.

Approximately 30 out of 200 companies are registered as financial leasing companies, Samy added.