Egypt Releases Goods worth $15 Billion in Q1

Egypt released goods worth $15 billion during the first quarter of this year, according to Shahat Ghaturi, head of the Egyptian Customs Authority.

Ghaturi's said in statements today, goods worth between $4 and $5 billion are released monthly.

The foreign currency crisis in Egypt re-emerged during the past month, after a number of government and private banks stopped opening new letters of credit or collection documents for importers, due to the scarcity of the dollar, according to 5 banking sources.

Last January, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced that the crisis of accumulation of goods in the ports had ended, explaining that the average goods in all Egyptian ports are equivalent to the traditional average that existed before the crisis of accumulation that the country suffered from, but the matter changed during the past weeks with the difficulty of providing dollars for importers in a way that facilitates the import of raw materials and goods from abroad.

An official in one of the Egyptian ports confirmed that there is "no accumulation of goods in the ports, but there is a delay in procurement of foreign currency for some shipments," and an official in a private bank revealed that there is "a significant decline in the proceeds of waiver of currency." It is difficult for the bank, and the interbank market has also stopped, and therefore there is not enough liquidity to finance import requests.