(Photo courtesy of Egypt’s Cabinet)
Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb demanded the facilitation of all procedures to open bank credits needed to import food commodities, production requirements and fuel. This aims to solve the problem of importing production inputs, and to give stalled factories a chance to work at full capacity.
Mehleb chaired a meeting regarding Egypt’s exports, to discuss its indicators in the last period, which showed a decrease in exports during the early months of 2015, according to a cabinet statement.
The meeting was attended by Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, President of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC), President of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), and representatives of the Supreme Council of Exports.
The government seeks to support and develop the domestic exports sector, in order to support its exhausted economy due to political and security unrests for over four years.
The meeting presented the reasons which led to the decrease in exports during the last period, one factor being that some Arab countries, including Libya, Iraq, Syria and Yemen face political and security challenges. These countries also stand as important markets for Egyptian exports, in addition to the increase of the Egyptian pound against the euro, the energy shortage and the decrease in natural gas production.
In addition to increased local demand on some commodities, other factors have affected exports, including: the decline in Egypt’s participation at foreign exhibitions; high production costs; high wages and salaries; some transportation costs and fees on the road; insufficient and skilled technical labour and their migration to foreign countries; as well as smuggling operations of some low quality goods into the Egyptian market.
Cabinet spokesperson Hossam Al-Kawish said Mehleb gave his directions to facilitate all procedures of opening bank credits necessary, to import food commodities and fuel production requirements. These would contribute to solving the problem of importing production inputs and provides an opportunity to run factories at full capacity. This would occur whilst holding the financial and tax rules that limit the increase in import of non-essential and non-priority goods.
Mehleb also gave directions to hold sector meetings with the ministers concerned to study the conditions surrounding each sector separately. This will encourage quick solutions that will help increase the volume of Egyptian exports.
Mehleb emphasised the state’s interest to work on increasing the volume of Egyptian exports during the coming period and to solve all the problems and the reasons hindering such an increase. He said this was “due to the great importance of this issue in providing foreign currency and the establishment of more projects that provide new job opportunities for young people”.
He also emphasised that the government “encourages the private sector, and exerts every effort to provide the right climate for investment”.
