Collection of government financial payments from clients dealing with governmental agencies must be done electronically starting from 1 January 2019, said Egypt's Ministry of Finance in an official statement on Saturday. The decision is an expansion to a previous ruling that restricted the collection of government payments from customers valued above EGP 100,000 to be made electronically, including tax and customs payments. The new decision states that all possible payments to governmental institutions from clients must be made electronically beginning from the first day of 2019, the statement added. Any cash or check payments to the government will not be accepted once the decision is implemented, with unprocessed check payments to the government that began before 2019 being the lone exception. There will be a penalty fee of 10 percent of the payment value with a maximum limit of EGP 10,000 to cover the costs incurred by the government, in cases where customers don't electronically submit their payments to the governmental institutions, the statement said. The transfer to a "non-cash-based society" will save a lot of unnecessary time and efforts in routine procedures, which will reduce the cost of cash circulation in the society. The transfer from a cash-based society to an electronic one is necessary to cope with the number of increasing financial transactions, while adding to the current economic growth of Egypt, which will help achieve the required goals of the country's ongoing economic reform, according to the statement. Egypt's Finance Minister Mohamed Mait stressed that the move will not negatively affect current workers, especially the ones whose current work will be of less importance after the transfer to a "non-cash-based society", such as cashiers and treasurers. He added that they will be trained to develop their skills needed in other more important departments, while using their managerial expertise. There should be developments in the working environment of agencies related to the Finance Ministry to cope with the technological progress in the world and to enhance Egypt's economic reform plan, which includes applying the newest managerial strategies and technology in the world, Mait added. There is a current reform in the financial infrastructure which includes setting up internet lines, introduction of electronic devices in governmental institutions, and ensuring the availability of Point of Sale (POS) machines and financial electronic cards that will be used by citizens to pay any government debts, the statement included. The move is part of Egypt's financial reform that has so far resulted in around 12 million workers in the administrative sector receiving their salaries electronically, the shift from paper ration card to electronic ones, and the implementation of Treasury Single Accounts (TSA) and Government Financial Management Information Systems (GFMIS), in an attempt to have an efficient financial control over government transactions.
