Egypt’s Ministry of Finance has disbursed a total of EGP 25.5 billion from exporters arrears since the onset of the pandemic in Egypt in March 2020 through six initiatives aimed to support the export sector, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait announced on Thursday.

During last week, the finance ministry disbursed EGP 2.1 million for 506 export companies that had joined the second stage of the cash repayment initiative, which allows exporters to disburse their subsidised arrears, according to Maait.

Moreover, 43 export companied received EGP 210 million from their arrears by the end of February, said Maait.

He added that all the companies that joined the second stage of the initiative are expected to receive all their due subsidies by 17 June.

“Such an effort comes in line with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s directives to back the export sector, as it is one of Egypt’s economic growth pillars, through which providing cash liquidity for the sector amid the severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Maait.

1,069 export companies received their arrears amounts with a total of EGP 12 billion in the first stage of the initiative, according to Maait.

Nevine Mansour, advisor of the finance minister's deputy for financial policies, said that 2,500 export companies benefited from the other five initiatives, with a total of EGP 5.6 billion disbursed for exports in FY 2019/2020 and EGP 2.4 billion disbursed from July to November 2020.

The cabinet has approved five initiatives since October 2019 to settle exporters’ arrears through June 2019.

The initiatives included repaying small investors a maximum of EGP 5 million, the repayment of 30 percent of the whole arrears to the exporters, holding a set-off between 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, and the land allocation initiative.