Trade Minister cuts bureaucratic measures of trade flow

CAIRO - 1 June 2017: Minister of Industry and Trade Tarek Kabil issued decree to amend Law no. 118, 1975 and to tighten monitoring measures of import and export.

The amendments targets to facilitate and ease procedures for importers and exporters and to remove obstacles facing the trade sector, Kabil said in a Thursday statement.

Under the amendments, the ministry would implement the electronic linkage between relevant authorities, cut the number of needed documents and ensure their effectiveness to reduce the trade cost.

“The new decree obligates importers to pay custom tariffs, above $2,000, in U.S. dollar through any of the banks operating in Egypt, and the bank would later notify the Customs Authority with the transaction,” Kabil clarified.

The banks will also collect the administrative fees stipulated by the Ministry of Industry, and to be later transferred to the ministry’s account at the Central Bank of Egypt.
Egypt’s trade deficit declined by 48 percent in the first four months of 2017, standing at $8.5 billion, less than $16.2 billion in the same period last year, according to Ministry figures.

The decline is attributed to a 14 percent hike in exports in that period, standing at $7.43 billion, up from $6.54 billion in the same period in 2016. Meanwhile, imports from Egypt declined 30 percent, to record $15.9 billion, less than $22.7 billion registered in the corresponding period last year.