CAIRO: Egypt will significantly reduce import duties on a wide range of both manufactured goods and raw materials, in an effort to lower consumer prices and combat smuggling, the minister of finance said on Monday.
Youssef Boutros-Ghali told a news conference the average import tariff would drop around 25 percent to 6.5 percent, and that 90 percent of all tariff clauses were now in a 10-percent-or-less import duty bracket.
This brings the Egyptian consumer closer to global prices, Boutros-Ghali said.
The measures would include some white goods, foodstuffs, medical equipment, raw plastics, livestock feed and clothing, among others, he said.
This exposes our products to more competition… but in the end, the first and last beneficiary is the consumer, Boutros-Ghali said. He said the reductions would cost the government an estimated 1.4 billion Egyptian pounds ($246 million) in lost revenues to the Treasury.
Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid said that reductions would also help combat smuggling by making it comparatively less profitable.
Rachid added that the government had earmarked LE 150 million to help the local clothing industry deal with competition from imported clothes.
