SUNREF II Palestine: supporting green projects with Cairo Amman Bank

Cairo Amman Bank (CAB) was set up in 1960 and is the 5th largest bank in Jordan. It carries out a quarter of its activity in Palestine via its main branch set up in 1994, CAB Palestine, the 6th largest player on the market. Since it set up its subsidiary SAFA Bank in 2016, CAB has also been offering Islamic finance services on the Palestinian market.

This SUNREF II program combines a USD 25m credit line provided by Proparco with a technical assistance (TA) package and premiums financed by the European Union for a total of EUR 11.5m. It will also benefit a second participating bank, Bank of Palestine, with a USD 30m credit line. The credit lines will finance growth in the “green loan” portfolio (renewable energy, environmental projects, with a focus on energy efficiency) of banks. The TA will assist them with the identification of projects and build their expertise. The premiums will stimulate demand in this market, which is still relatively immature, and encourage banks to focus their efforts on energy efficiency, a priority segment in this second phase of SUNREF in Palestine.

This second SUNREF line dedicated to Palestine, for double the amount (USD 25m) of the previous line (EUR 12.5m in 2018), will allow CAB to continue its expansion into green finance, including in the energy efficiency sector, which is still at a very preliminary stage in   Palestine. The program gives priority to SMEs, but is also open to households, and will contribute to getting all the stakeholders to adopt a culture of green energy, while strengthening business competitiveness. On the social front, the project should support over 4,000 indirect jobs over the next 5 years in the SMEs which will benefit from the credit line.