According to Kafalat, the number of loan guarantees dropped from 228 guarantees by H1 2018 to 38 loans by June of this year 2019. Accordingly, the total value of issued loan guarantees also plunged from $29.4M in H1 2018 to stand at $4.5M in H1 2019.
The top three beneficiaries of Kafalat guarantees in the first 6 months of the year were: the Industrial sector grasping 39.5% of the total guarantees, followed by the Agricultural sector and Tourism sector grasping 26.3% each. However, the number of loan guarantees to the industrial, agricultural and tourism sectors slumped from 67, 82, and 39 issued guarantees by June 2018 to 15, 10, and 10 loan guarantees in H1 2019.
Regionally, the largest number of guarantees extended was in Mount Lebanon which grasped 52.63% of total loan guarantees, followed by 23.68% and 10.53% in of the Bekaa and Beirut, respectively. Nonetheless, the total number of guarantees slipped from H1 2018’s 100, 38, and 21 in Mount Lebanon, the Bekaa and Beirut regions, to 20, 9, and 4 guarantees in H1 2019, respectively.
Value of Kafalat Guarantees Issued by June (in $M)
Source: Kafalat