Egypt to receive requests from exporters for arrears on 30 January, disbursements in April

Egypt’s Ministry of Finance will open submissions for the second round of the fourth phase of the initiative to repay exporters’ arrears from 30 January to 10 February, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said

The move is based on President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s directives to support the export sector amid the ongoing coronavirus challenges, he added.

The government has already disbursed EGP 31 billion of exporters’ arrears, benefiting over 3,000 export companies since the launch of the initiative in October 2019, according to Maait.

Nevine Mansour, the finance ministry’s adviser for financial policies, stated that the ministry disbursed EGP 957.4 million for 500 export companies during the fourth phase of the initiative.

She added that the disbursement for the second round of this phase is scheduled for 28-29 April 2022.

The initiative allows instant and cash repayment of the entirety of export companies’ arrears from the Export Development Fund at a discount of 15 percent.
The initiative supports domestic and foreign companies operating in the Egyptian market.

The initiative is being implemented in collaboration with the banking system. The finance ministry deposited a guarantee at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to allow the payment of the arrears through the end of the programme.

The president also directed the government to take the required procedures that would contribute to increasing Egypt’s exports to reach $100 billion per annum, and to set 100 incentives to be extended to the industry sector to increase the competitiveness of Egyptian products.