Egypt’s exporters were handed EGP 21 billion under six initiatives that had been launched to support them amid the COVID-19 crisis, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said in a statement on Tuesday.

The initiatives are aimed to provide exporters with cash liquidity in order to meet their financial obligations and maintain their workforce, Maait explained.

2500 exporters benefitted from five initiatives, receiving around EGP 8 billion, according to Maait.

Under the latest prompt cash payment under the exporters initiative, a total of EGP 13 billion was disbursed to 169 export companies during November and December.

The disbursed sums were due arrears owed to exporters from the Export Development Fund, according to the minister.

Since October 2019, the government has launched six initiatives, per the directives of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi directives, with the aim of settling the exporters’ arrears through June 2019 and supporting the sector that was among the hardest-hit sectors by the pandemic.

The initiatives included the repayment of small investors with a maximum of EGP 5 million; the repayment of 30 percent of the whole arrears to the exporters; holding a set-off between the exporters’ arrears and the payable tax and custom obligations on them; the repayment of the total arrear sums over four to five years while expanding their investments in return; in addition to the land allocation initiative.