Listen The Economic Ministerial Committee banned, during a meeting Monday, the collection of the value of any service or commodity if it is not in Egyptian pounds. This comes along with the government's efforts to improve the Egyptian pound's exchange rate and increase its demand to raise its value, said Cabinet Spokesman Hossam Qawish. "The prohibition applies to Egyptians in their local transactions only. However, during tourists' stay in the Egyptian territories, they are allowed to deal in any other currency such as the dollar in their purchasing transactions," said a government official who requested to remain anonymous. Prohibition of the collection of value of any commodity or service comes in accordance with Article 111 of the Banks Law 88. Qawish said Article 111 states that "dealing within the Arab Republic of Egypt, whether in purchase or sale of goods and services, shall be in Egyptian pounds according to the rules to be stated in the Executive Regulations, unless otherwise stipulated in an international convention or another law." He stressed upon the fact that sanctions will be imposed on anyone who violates the law. The statement came during the Economic Ministerial Committee meeting, headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb, and with the presence of the committee members: the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Governor Hisham Ramez; Minister of Commerce and Industry Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour; Minister of Planning Ashraf El-Araby; Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy; Minister of Electricity Mohammed Shaker; Minister of Finance Hany Kadry Dimian; and Minister of International Cooperation Naglaa Al-Ahwany. During the meeting, Mehleb emphasised the necessity to speed up the completion of the ongoing implementation rates to maintain and develop the power plants. These would occur using the urgent plan, which corresponds with the high-quality established schedules, seeking to add those stations to the national electricity grid by next summer. One of the offers is being studied to increase the efficiency of steam stations to generate electricity. The offer was approved by the committee members and will be studied from all aspects, especially the financial and contractual terms, as a prelude to deciding whether to implement it, said Qawish. The meeting discussed a number of documents to be submitted at the Economic Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, which will present the economic and the social vision of the Egyptian government. The meeting also included several discussions about some of the proposed amendments to the tax law to attract more investments and to ease the burden on citizens, Qawish added.
