The Egyptian authorities is contemplating obligating native delivery companies working in Egyptian ports to just accept the fee of native container dealing with charges within the Egyptian pound and to cease dealing in foreign currency echange.
This got here after the Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) submitted an pressing memo to Finance Minister Mohamed Maait.
Maait confirmed in an official memo to reply to the FEDCOC’s request that the CEO of the Basic Authority for Funding and Free Zones, Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, was addressed to check the feasibility of creating delivery companies in Egypt deal in Egypt pound in accumulating all required charges as an alternative of utilizing foreign currency echange.
The memo additionally emphasised extending the working hours of visa, assortment and alternate staff within the Chinese language area till seven within the night, in response to the dates of the joint examination committees, and to cut back the time of customs launch.
The FEDCOC additionally demanded in a letter to Finance Minister to cease dealing in US greenback for transactions that happen on Egyptian lands in an effort to cut back the burden and demand for overseas foreign money.
The union indicated that firms bear further burdens ensuing from demurrage costs which are paid in US greenback to delivery strains, as overseas delivery companies and container dealing with firms oblige importers to pay the required charges in US greenback as an alternative of the Egyptian pound.
Maait pressured that obligating importers to pay buying and selling charges in US {dollars} and never in Egyptian kilos is unacceptable so long as delivery companies in Egypt present their companies on Egyptian territory.
The Advisor to Finance Minister for Customs Affairs Magdy Abdel-Aziz, mentioned that the goal of the measure is to cut back pressures on importing firms, particularly with the excessive fines for delays required in case of delayed launch of containers, which can attain US$160 per container per day.
Any transaction inside Egypt’s territories should be within the native foreign money, he defined, calling on the Transport Ministry to intervene on this matter and oblige all firms to just accept dealing within the Egypt pound, particularly as it’s the authority accountable for issuing licenses and permits for delivery strains and companies in Egyptian ports.
The issuance of such a call will definitely cut back strain on overseas foreign money, he mentioned.
And the Secretary of the Transport and Logistics Division in FEDCOC, Amr al-Samdouni, mentioned that delivery strains acquire in US {dollars} for many of their bills, whereas the nation suffers from a extreme scarcity of its greenback sources because of the decline within the efficiency of its primary sources – that are exports, tourism and overseas funding, along with the presently excessive value of the US greenback.
He added that the delivery companies in Egypt gave themselves the proper to gather the proceeds of unloading in US {dollars} on the pretext that they cope with overseas container stations, and these stations get them pay in {dollars} as nicely.
Samdouni mentioned that importers are struggling in an effort to handle laborious foreign money to pay the worth of the imported items, in gentle of the banks reluctance to supply it to them, and paying charges in {dollars} will increase the burden on importers and raises the value of the imported commodity on the buyer.
