President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has directed the government to act to secure loans for owners of small and medium-sized facilities at a five-percent interest rate. 

The loans should be repaid in installments over 10 years as part of an initiative to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Sisi said in a meeting with Trade and Industry Minister Tareq Qabil Sunday.

Qabil reviewed detailed maquettes of complexes of small and medium-sized industries that should be established at industrial zones in the south of el Reswa in Port Said, as well as the cities of Badr and Sadat, said presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef. 

Those complexes will include about 500 ready-to-operate industrial facilities that should serve small and medium-sized industries, Youssef added. 

Sisi stressed the need to act quickly to secure the industrial facilities, which contribute to upgrading the industrial sector and pushing up production, the spokesman said.