Parliament’s industry committee asked the government to pay export subsidies that are 18 months overdue to support the competitiveness of Egyptian manufacturers in foreign markets.
Ahmed Samir, chairperson of the industry committee of the House of Representatives, said that the duration of the arrears is 18 months, noting that they hinder the ability of investors to enter new markets during the coming period, requiring the rapid intervention of the government.
“The committee will submit a memorandum to the Ministries of Finance and Industry and Trade on the matter in the presence of strong competition for Egyptian investors in other markets, as there are competing countries with several programmes supporting their products,” he added.
“The export subsidy arrears are valued at about EGP 7bn. The scheduling of these entitlements to investors is a great incentive to increase non-oil exports during the current and next year,” said Mohamed El-Zeiny, the committee’s undersecretary.
The estimates of support for the stimulation of Egyptian exports amounted to about EGP 2.6bn in the draft fiscal year 2017/2018 budget, representing the share of state support for Egyptian exports.
The undersecretary of the industry committee said that the Ministry of Trade and Industry had requested the provision of EGP 5bn to support exports during the current fiscal year, but the Ministry of Finance allocated EGP 2.6bn.
According to data from the General Organisation for Import and Export Control (GOEIC), non-oil exports of Egypt recorded 9% growth last year, amounting to $21.007bn, against $19.284bn during the same period in 2016.
Egyptian non-oil exports increased in January compared to the same month last year, reaching $1.9bn compared to $1.6bn, an increase of 16%.
Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Kabil said in a press statement that Egyptian imports in January witnessed a significant decline of 4%, recorded $4.6bn compared to $4.7bn in January of 2017.
