Egypt’s petroleum exports increased by 84.28% during 2021, to record 12.9 billion dollars, compared to 7 billion dollars in 2020, according to Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
El Molla told Reuters, today, Wednesday, that the value of Egypt’s exports of natural and liquefied gas jumped during 2021 by 550 percent to reach $3.9 billion, compared to $600 million in 2020.
According to the minister, Egypt’s exports of petroleum and petrochemical products increased by 42.5% last year, to reach $5.7 billion, compared to $4 billion in 2020.
Egypt’s non-oil exports increased by 26 percent last year, to record $32.1 billion, compared to $25.4 billion in 2020, an increase of $6.7 billion.
The Ministry of Industry aims to raise non-oil exports to $40 billion in 2022, an increase of 25%.
The International Monetary Fund expects Egypt’s exports of goods and services to rise to $50.5 billion in the current fiscal year.
The fund’s expectations indicate an increase in Egypt’s exports to $60.5 billion in 2022/2023, rising to $68.9 billion in 2023/2024, and then to $75.4 billion in 2024/2025.
Nevin Jameh, Minister of Trade and Industry, announced that the Export Development Fund issued 465 certificates to 455 exporting companies with a total support amounting to 957.4 million pounds, as part of the implementation of the first batch of the fourth phase of the initiative for immediate payment to exporters, pointing out that the second and third batches of this phase will be at the end of February and April the next two.
The minister said that the provision of these financial dues comes in implementation of the presidential directives with the support of the export sector, and the speedy response of the export burdens due to the exporting companies, pointing out that the return of the dues of the exporters to the Fund contributed significantly to the Egyptian exports exceeding the $31 billion barrier by the end of 2021.
Jameh added that the first phase of the immediate payment initiative included the disbursement of 13.2 billion for 1069 companies, the second stage 4.6 billion for 923 companies, and the third stage of 1.8 billion for about 700 companies, pointing out that the total export support disbursed since the launch of the immediate payment initiative until now has reached 20.5 billion EGP for 1751 companies.
It is worth noting that the immediate payment initiative is an initiative launched by the Ministries of Commerce, Industry and Finance during the month of November 2020, in coordination with the Central Bank and 4 banks, and allows the payment of 85% of the total value of dues immediately, instead of paying it in installments that may take several years, which contributes to Providing cash liquidity to enable the exporting companies to fulfill their obligations towards their customers and to preserve employment.
