Egypt Releases $8.5Billion Goods Stuck at Ports Since December: Cabinet
According to Egypt today, Stuck goods worth $1.5 billion were released from Egyptian ports from 1 to 10 January, upping the total value of released goods since the start of December to $8.5 billion, the Cabinet said in a statement yesterday.
According to the statement, this includes more than $613 million in goods required for industrial purposes, such as food products, primary industrial supplies, and spare parts.
More than $40.7 million worth of corn, $28 million worth of soybean, and $56 million worth of pharmaceutical chemicals have been released over this period.
In December, the Egyptian Cabinet announced plans to release goods at ports, particularly food products, medicines, and production requirements that had been held up for months due to a foreign currency shortage caused by the global economic crisis.
This came shortly after the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced canceling the letter of credit (LC) system as a requirement for imports.
The CBE’s February decision to oblige banks to deal with LCs was blamed for causing Egyptian ports to be full of stuck goods worth billions of dollars.
The CBE said in a statement that it decided to restore the documentary collections system for imported goods.
The decision to implement the LCs system, which has been in effect since March, required Egyptian banks to accept only LCs for imports in order to reduce dollar outflows from the country.
On Tuesday, President Abdel Fattah al Sisi directed the government to swiftly continue releasing all goods stuck at the country’s ports, as well as simplify all customs clearance procedures.
