According to Kafalat, the number of issued loan guarantees stood at 8 guarantees in January 2019, compared to 39 guarantees in January 2018. The large drop in Kafalat guarantees can be attributed to the general economic slowdown. As such, the overall value of the guarantees also contracted from $4.66M issued in the first month of 2018, to $799,293 worth of guarantees issued in January 2019.
The only beneficiaries of Kafalat guarantees in the beginning of the year were the industrial, agricultural, and tourism sectors, where they grasped respective shares of 25%, 62.5%, and 12.5%. Moreover, the geographical allocation of Kafalat loans in the beginning of 2019 revealed that the biggest beneficiary of guarantees was the region of Mount Lebanon with 4 guarantees. The Bekaa region followed with 2 guarantees, and the Nabatieh and South regions benefited from one guarantee each in January 2019.
Value of Kafalat Guarantees Issued in January (in $M)
Source: Kafalat