Egypt to coordinate between monetary, financial policies

CAIRO - 27 June 2018: Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it and Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer agreed to form a joint committee at the highest level that meets at least once a month to create full coordination between monetary and financial policies.

The committee will focus on realizing coordination between monetary and financial policies to serve the national economy, an official statement said.

This came during a meeting between the minister of finance, governor of the CBE and deputies' governor of the CBE, Lubna Hilal and Gamal Negm.

During the meeting, they reviewed the plans to develop the system of government financial flows and electronic payment of dues, which supports the efforts of the Central Bank to publish the initiative of financial inclusion in the Egyptian society, as well as the plans to expand the submission of tax returns and electronic tax payment and reforms planned by the Ministry of Finance in the coming period, especially in the payment and collection system which enjoys the full support of the Central Bank and the banking system.

Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it issued a ministerial decision to oblige people dealing with various government agencies to pay their financial dues, including tax and customs of more than LE 100,000 through one of the electronic payment methods.

The minister added that the decision allows the payment of dues less than LE 100,000 through checks, prohibiting the payment of any financial dues in cash except for amounts less than LE 5,000.

“It will be mandatory to pay electronically as of January 1, 2019, for all amounts owed to the government whatever its value is; check or cash payment will be accepted for checks delivered to various government agencies before this date,” Ma’it said.

The minister praised the efforts of the governor of the Central Bank and his initiatives to develop economic activity, especially in terms of facilitating the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and his initiative for real estate finance, which contributed greatly to the national economy and the service of thousands of Egyptian families.

Hilal said on the sidelines of her participation in the celebration of the graduation of the first batch of entrepreneurs, founded by Egy Bank, that the volume of financing provided by the banks operating in the domestic market to the SMEs sector amounted to LE 85 billion, as part of the initiative of the Central Bank of Egypt to promote this vital sector.
Hilal expected the fund to reach LE 200 billion before January 2020.