Mohamed Maait, the Minister of Finance, said that the Customs Authority has released imported goods, merchandise, and products at various ports and custom outlets worth $131bn in 21 months, until the end of last June, out of a total of $136.4bn worth of goods. Goods worth $3.5bn that have not been yet exported as they do not have delivery permits from the foreign source to the Egyptian importer.
Egypt’s ports and custom outlets also have “bulk goods” that are stored in warehouses inside custom areas, including petroleum products, oils, fodder, corn, soybeans, and wheat. This leaves a total of goods worth $1.9bn awaiting custom release procedures to be completed.
In a statement by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, Maait said that customs release operations are carried out as usual, with basic and food commodities, food processing components, medicines, petroleum materials and fuel, and everything related to production requirements considered a top priority. The release of such goods contributes to securing the state’s strategic stock of basic commodities for citizens in the local markets. They also help support the state’s efforts to maintain price stability.
Maait highlighted the fact that custom targets to reduce customs release time were achieved. In addition, the costs of the import and export process was reduced, and investments were boosted, in spite of the global economic challenges.
He pointed out that the number of applications for registration in the ACI system exceeded 1.2 million, since its introduction in October 2021.
Maait added that the pre-registration system for shipments has helped facilitate and mechanize procedures.
Al-Shahat Ghaturi, Head of the Customs Authority, stated that the Authority will continue to localize global experiences in the field of digitization and artificial intelligence. He also noted that the logistics centers for customs services, which are linked by a unified platform, and the pre-registration system for shipments ACI, have contributed greatly to reducing customs release time and making the process easier as a whole.
