The total value was generated in the last six-month period, whereby the revenues are a result of stamping approximately 26 tonnes of gold artefacts, Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy said in the statement. Hanafy added that within the last six months, 35kg of gold and 45kg of silver that were unstamped were caught due to inspections made by representatives from the authority, which is currently part of the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade. Hanafy announced that the issuance of a presidential decree transferring the jewellery stamping and scales authority to a public economic entity is currently in the works. The same declaration, however, was made by Hanafy last December. The decision aims at introducing new regulatory tools to avoid any means of forgery and cheating in the goldsmith and precious metals industry. One of the tools includes the use of a barcode system for gold and other precious metals. Transferring the authority into a public economic entity will allow greater flexibility in making decisions, and in modifying the regulations to be followed by the authority, according to authority president Mohamed Fathy. The transfer will allow more benefits as it will allow new opportunities that are restricted when the authority is connected to a governmental institution, as it will abide by a different and more flexible law, he said. Meanwhile, during a 10 month period between the beginning of 2014 until the end of October, the authority's revenues stood at around EGP 24.7m At the time, the ministry elaborated that the department witnessed a 120% increase in growth rate, compared to the same period in the previous three years. During this time, the average revenue amounted to approximately EGP 11.6m.
