Egypt's economic ministerial committee, headed by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, has agreed to disburse export subsidies for small companies, according to cabinet spokesperson Nader Saad. The total dues stand at EGP 5m or less on products sold abroad before 1 July 2019, without tax clearance certificates, Saad said. Saad added that the Prime Minister also directed the government to take all measures guaranteeing the immediate disbursement of the export subsidies. The move comes as part of the emergency measures cushioning the negative economic effects of the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. Minister of Planning Hala El-Said, who attended the meeting, said that international institutions have downgraded their global trade growth forecast for 2020, from 2.3% to 0.4%, due to the coronavirus crisis. El-Said added that the feared knock-on global debt crisis will clearly affect financing and liquidity available for countries, with an expected decline in foreign direct investments by 30-40%. Moreover, Minister of Finance Mohamed Moeit said the global stock exchanges in emerging and Arab markets decreased significantly by 20-30% in the first quarter of 2020. The minister noted that despite lowered growth estimates for the region and all emerging countries, the growth forecast for Egypt is the highest in the region, almost equal to China and India.
