No official medicine price hikes announced yet: FEI

CAIRO – 23 August 2017: There is no official decision regarding any amendments for medicine prices which were repriced in January, the head of the Chamber of Pharmaceuticals of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) said on Wednesday.

The Chamber’s Head, Ahmed El-Ezaby added to Egypt Today that the ministerial decree issued in January amending the medicine prices included a revision for the decision in August, but nothing has been issued yet.

Any price amendment needs lengthy discussions from the Health Ministry representatives and the medicine manufacturers and importers, Ezaby highlighted.

In January, prices of 3,000 items of medicines out of a total of 12,000 were repriced; where medicines of less than LE 50 ($2.8) were raised 50 percent. In addition, items between LE 50 and LE 100 increased 410 percent, and those which exceeded LE 100 topped up by 30 percent.

The move followed the decision of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) floating the Egyptian pound in November.