President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Monday ordered the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to prepare a study on offering a low-interest finance to tourist establishments and hotels to prevent the layoff of workers. The president gave the order at a meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli, CBE Governor Tareq Amer, and the ministers of tourism, planning, international cooperation, finance, public business sector, civil aviation and trade. The meeting reviewed the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis on the economy and measures taken to deal with it. The president ordered exempting tourist establishments from the real estate tax for six months and postponing the collection of all dues from them for three months without interest or penalty fees, presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said. Sisi further issued directives to complete all under-construction tourism projects and raise the efficiency of hotels' infrastructure to be ready for receiving visitors and tourists as soon as the global coronavirus crisis ends and the tourism movement returns to normal. Sisi called for providing a loan with a grace period of two years in support of the civil aviation sector and assigned the Ministry of Finance to consider the possibility of bearing some financial burden on this vital sector. On the other hand, the president directed to pay 30%, or at least EGP 5 million, of each exporter's dues owed by the Export Development Fund before the end of the current fiscal year, in addition to allocating a monthly grant of EGP 500 to irregular workers for 3 months. The president as well called for finalizing the construction of 250,000 social housing units and additional 100,000 units for residents of unsafe areas as soon as possible.
