Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait has said that Egypt is making history by transitioning to a digital economy in an unprecedented process of construction and development. This step will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government performance as well as the quality of the services provided to citizens. It will also enhance governance and transparency. Maait added in his speech during the ministry's Post-Digital Transformation Conference that the financial institutions operation technology company E-finance was able to develop its performance and build its capabilities to become strong and flexible and be the rapid technological arm of the state in terms of implementing the national project for digital transformation. He pointed out that the accomplishments of E-finance are the fruits of 15 years of hard and continuous work as well as the professional handling of challenges. The company has made one of the best government proposals to attract more foreign investments to the stock exchange. He pointed out that the application of the Government Financial Information System (GFMIS) to budget entities and link it to the collection and payment system (CPS) and the Treasury Single Account (TSA) contributed to closing the final accounts of the budget that ended on the same day as the end of the fiscal year. The new budget will be effective starting from the first day for the new fiscal year. He added that the GFMIS will be applied to economic bodies on an experimental basis during the period from March until the end of June 2022 in preparation for its implementation in the budget of the next fiscal year to link all government agencies electronically. This will contribute to creating a strong public financial management system by integrating, controlling, and computerising all government financial operations, starting with budget preparation, implementation, and control, which can create financial discipline. Maait added that the electronic payment and collection system for government dues witnessed strong performance since its launch, as the number of government electronic collection points at the level of the republic reached about 16,426, and government electronic payment and collection centre achieved unprecedented operating rates from May 2019 to January 2022, with payment transactions amounting to EGP 342m. The value of the Egyptian sovereign receipts of taxes and customs amounted to about EGP 1.54trn. The value of receipts through citizens' payments was EGP 158bn and EGP 67bn from government electronic collection points. The value of receipts through the government's electronic payment portal was estimated to be EGP 5bn, and the value of electronic payment services such as payments for salaries, suppliers, and others is about EGP 3trn. He added that in 2021, over 4 million Meeza cards were issued to pay the dues of state workers. In cooperation with e-finance, a platform for government bills will be provided for administrative authorities that do not have a database that qualifies them to be linked and integrated with the government's electronic payment and collection centre. They will also be linked to the Digital Egypt platform and many other government systems, such as the digital system for governance and management of state assets, the system of government procurement and contracting, and the system of issuing electronic invoices. "We continue to complete the modernisation and automation of the tax and customs systems so that all development and digital transformation projects are completed before the end of next June. Electronic integration between the two systems will be achieved accordingly," Maait said. He added that the digital transformation led to an increase in tax revenues by 13% in the last fiscal year despite the coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, he explained that more than 52,000 companies have registered on the electronic invoice system, and more than 43,000 companies have activated their accounts on the electronic system so far and have sent more than 150 million electronic invoices. This reflects the success of this experiment, which Egypt was able to achieve as one of the first countries in Africa and the Middle East. "Through this system, we were able to detect over 15,000 cases of tax evasion, 4,300 of which paid tax differences worth about EGP 6bn of the state's public treasury dues." Maait pointed out that the electronic invoice system will be implemented as of next April through the optimal use of technological solutions in following up on commercial transactions between financiers and consumers in real time in all points of sale.
