Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said there was no alternative to enhancing the contributions of industrial and agricultural production to the structure of economic growth.
Maait announced the government’s plans to expand the base of beneficiaries of the initiative to support the productive sectors, industry, and agriculture by setting a maximum of EGP75 million for financing one company and EGP112.5 million for multilateral entities.
He explained that the government would continue to support the productive sectors in the new budget, despite global economic challenges.
It would provide EGP150 billion in soft financing at 11 percent interest for agricultural and industrial production activities, of which EGP140 billion will be dedicated to financing working capital and EGP10 billion to buy machinery, equipment, or production lines over five years.
The state treasury bears more than EGP13 billion interest rate difference annually.
Maait added that the government continues to implement this initiative in the current fiscal year, despite the 2 percent hike in interest rates, encouraging investors to expand production and achieve the state’s strategic goals by maximizing production capabilities, meeting the domestic demand, and limiting production.
The minister asserted that this would help achieve the goal of reaching $100 billion in exports to boost the national economy, sustain growth rates, and provide more job opportunities.
He pointed out that the successive global crises have proven right the Egyptian vision in intensifying efforts to stimulate production and export activities. It begins with advanced infrastructure capable of absorbing investment expansions, tax and customs incentives, and credit facilities.
Moreover, the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Europe have led to disruption in supply chains, remarked Maait, adding that it led to a hike in the prices of goods and services.
He stressed that there is no alternative to enhancing the contributions of industrial and agricultural production to economic growth.
He explained that EGP28.1 billion had been allocated in the new budget to support exporting companies.
As of the next fiscal year, the government intends to disburse export support in the same year of export to help provide the necessary cash liquidity to stimulate production.
He recalled that several initiatives were launched by the government from October 2019 until now to respond to the delayed exports with the Export Development Fund.
About EGP48 billion were spent in support of 2,500 exporting companies, according to Maait.
