Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian Minister of Finance, Mohamed Maait, announced the launch of a new initiative for the immediate disbursement of overdue export subsidies within the next days until the end of September.

Subsidies will be paid in a lump sum before the end of 2020 after deducting 15% of the total amount instead of spreading the payment over four to five years, Maait added in a statement on Sunday.

The finance ministry will issue a guarantee to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to provide subsidy arrears owed by the Export Development Fund for the companies willing to receive their dues immediately with a 15% reduction. The payments will be repaid by the finance ministry over three years to the banks participating in the initiative.

A total of 153 companies have benefited from a previous similar initiative, receiving EGP 1.8 billion of their dues owed by the Export Development Fund, Nevine Mansour, Advisor to the Finance Minister, said.