Egypt's Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly on Sunday ordered government entities to accelerate repayment of outstanding debts to the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement (UPA) to help secure the country's medicine and medical supply needs, the Cabinet said. The directive came during a meeting to review the availability of essential drugs and supplies and assess progress on settling dues owed to pharmaceutical companies. The prime minister said the state is working to maintain a safe stockpile of medicines through domestic production and imports, while offering incentives to boost investment in the pharmaceutical industry. The government is also pushing to localise production, deepen manufacturing capacity and adopt advanced global technologies to meet local demand and expand exports. According to the Cabinet statement, the meeting also reviewed the UPA's financial position and its capacity to cover procurement operations. Prime Minister Madbouly stressed that faster repayment of government debts would strengthen the authority's ability to secure supplies and settle payments to drugmakers. Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English
