Egypt uses electronic payment of dues exceeding LE 100K

CAIRO – 27 June 2018: Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it issued a ministerial decision to oblige people dealing with various government agencies to pay their financial dues, including tax and customs of more than LE 100,000 through one of the electronic payment methods.

The minister added that the decision allows the payment of dues less than LE 100,000 through checks, prohibiting the payment of any financial dues in cash except for amounts less than LE 5,000.

“It will be mandatory to pay electronically as of January 1, 2019, for all amounts owed to the government whatever its value is; check or cash payment will be accepted for checks delivered to various government agencies before this date,” Ma’it said.

“In case of non-compliance, the decision imposes administrative expenses of 10 percent of the value of amounts owed to governmental agencies up to a maximum of LE 10,000,” the minister added.

The minister's decision demanded the administrative authorities to take into account the implementation of their financial transactions through cash, checks or electronic collection and through the banking system to the treasury account of the Central Bank of Egypt.

In May, a delegation from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) visited Sweden for two days to learn from the successful Swedish experience in the field of financial technology.

The visit was organized in cooperation with the Swedish Embassy in Cairo and the Swedish Council for Trade and Investment.

The visit comes within the framework of the CBE's efforts to become a leader in financial technology and encourage a shift towards electronic financial transactions to achieve financial inclusion for the maximum number of citizens.