The Senate, Egypt’s consultative upper house of parliament, is calling on the government to adopt a new strategy to achieve the goal of increasing Egypt’s exports to $100 billion annually.
In a plenary session held on Sunday, Senator Samir Zaki reviewed a Senate study on the obstacles facing exporters and how to enhance the competitiveness of Egyptian products and expand their reach in global markets.
Zaki said the government should have a clear vision and strategy for Egyptian exports to generate $100 billion in revenues annually. “This strategy should include tax incentives for major export-led industries and aggressive promotion campaigns for Egyptian exports in international markets,” he said.
The study noted that in 2023 the government of Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli had announced the ambitious goal of increasing Egypt’s annual exports gradually to $100 billion in five years, up from $43.6 billion in 2021 and $51.6 billion in 2022.
The targeted $100 billion worth of exports can be achieved, according to the study, by promoting export-oriented investments, enhancing the competitiveness of Egyptian products in global markets, opening new markets, concluding free and preferential trade agreements, and utilising Egyptian commercial offices abroad.
It stressed the importance of coordination with the business community, including investors, exporters, and importers, as key partners in implementing the state’s vision to promote investment and foreign trade.
It further said that the government should also work on activating free-trade agreements between Egypt and various economic blocs, particularly the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the South American free-trade bloc MERCOSUR.
The study recommended that the government provide cash support to exporters based on the percentage of local components in their products, the technological content of their industries, and the number of workers they employ.
“We also call upon the government to provide soft loans for investment in export industries and services, provided that the loans have long repayment periods and low interest rates,” the study said.
Commenting on the study, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Mahmoud Fawzi said the government considers increasing Egyptian exports to $100 billion annually to be a matter of national security.
He noted that the government’s policy statement delivered by Madbouli before the House of Representatives last July stated that the strategy of doubling exports would be based on four axes: providing incentives; reducing land and air freight costs; supporting marketing, whether locally or internationally through the Exhibitions Authority; and providing easy financing.
Fawzi said that the current surplus of imports over exports had led to a deficit in the trade balance, making exports a national security issue. He stressed the need for self-reliance, noting that increasing exports can only be achieved by enhancing production, as the higher the volume of production, the better the export situation and the trade balance.
Essam Al-Naggar, head of the General Authority for Export and Import Control, told the Senate that Egyptian exports had witnessed a boom during the most recent period, as export figures had reached $41 billion in 2024.
“Building on these figures, the government aims to generate $145 billion from exports by 2030,” said Al-Naggar, pointing out the overall (imports and exports) volume of Egypt’s foreign trade had reached $119 billion in 2024, while the trade deficit had reached $37 billion.
Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan Al-Khatib held a meeting with the heads and members of the country’s export councils last month to discuss the ministry’s programme related to boosting exports.
Al-Khatib said he had directed the councils to identify unused production capacities in each industrial sector as well as to determine the required investments in these sectors in order to help achieve the state’s targets for increasing exports.
He said that the government was continuing to implement initiatives to provide easy financing programmes for the different production sectors, including the industrial sector.
Al-Naggar said periodic follow-ups were being undertaken to reduce customs clearance times and speed up the release of production requirements, in turn contributing to reducing the cost of exports.
He said the ministry was keen to boost exports to the African market in particular and that a working group was looking at ways to increase Egyptian exports to Africa.
Amany Al-Wasal, head of the Trade Agreements Sector at the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, said that “to achieve the goal of reaching $145 billion in exports by 2030, an annual growth rate of 15 to 20 per cent is needed.”
She indicated that the ministry’s programme does not support all exports. “It supports a selected group that face particular competitive challenges,” she said.
Senators Tarek Abdel-Aziz, a member of the Wafd Party, and Sayed Abdel-Aal, head of the leftist Tagammu Party, said that the government’s strategy for supporting exports had kicked off in 2002 and had been designed to raise exports to $100 billion by 2010.
“This target has not been achieved even after 23 years,” Abdel-Aziz said.
In response, Al-Wasal said that “what happened from 2002 to 2010 was the development of the exports promotion programme, and the ministry is now focusing on the percentage of local components.”
* A version of this article appears in print in the 6 March, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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