Prime Minister Sherif Ismail called for the development of a strategy to guarantee that the required funds for Egypt’s health and medicine sectors are secured, estimated at $2.6bn annually, according to a statement issued by the cabinet on Monday.
Ismail met with the minister of health, Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) deputy governor, and a number of pharmaceutical companies in order to discuss pharmaceutical companies’ foreign exchange requirements, according to the statement.
The prime minister stressed that the government wants pharmaceutical factories to continue working at full capacity so as to meet the needs of the local market and exports.
The report explained that Ismail has formed a large work group whose main job is to determine the priorities of the pharmaceuticals market and implement the import plan.
He added that, during the meeting, Ismail presented the full requirements of the pharmaceuticals market in Egypt, including components of drugs, raw materials, finished pharmaceuticals, blood products, tumour medicines, vaccines, and production requirements in different pharmaceutical factories.
Pharmaceutical factories and companies are currently dealing with a lack of foreign exchange which is necessary for importing raw materials.
The CBE launches a weekly tender worth $120m in order to provide the needs of banks to import basic goods.
