Dr. Mohamed Maait, Minister of Finance, confirmed that we are keen on building and developing Egypt’s customs capabilities. As one of the basic pillars for stimulating domestic and foreign investment, strengthening the macroeconomic structure, and also one of the factors influencing the state’s efforts aimed at relieving the burdens on citizens, by continuing to facilitate and mechanize customs procedures, in a way that contributes to reducing the cost of import and export, by working to accelerate the pace of customs release, products and reducing production costs, especially in light of the internal and external challenges, which were reflected in the unprecedented rise in prices of goods and services due to the disruption in supply chains, which prompted us to take many customs facilitations during the year 2023, which were agreed upon in dialogue sessions with the business community, as part of our commitment to being open to its opinions and implementing any serious proposals that help facilitate the movement of trade.
Establishing a business-friendly environment; in line with the country’s supportive and investor-friendly approach in facing the repercussions of global economic conditions.
The Minister added that we are committed to continuous work to accelerate the pace of customs release of strategic goods, medicines, petroleum and fuel materials, and production requirements for priority sectors, in a way that contributes to the rotation of the wheel of production, supporting the national industry, securing the state’s strategic stock, and increasing the volume of supply of basic commodities in local markets.
The minister added that the period from January to December 26, 2023 witnessed the customs release of many goods with a total value of $72.4 billion, including strategic goods worth $19.1 billion, and supplies and raw materials for production worth $33.3 billion, pointing out that Permanent committees and technical support teams have been formed to facilitate customs procedures at various sites and ports, in a manner consistent with efforts to develop and mechanize the customs system, which is based on the development of logistical centers, linking all ports electronically through the unified platform “Nafeza”, and implementing the “ACI” system, with the aim of reducing the average customs clearance time, and obliging all importers to adhere to European and American standards in the quality specifications of goods and merchandise; in order to protect local markets from inferior products.
The Minister indicated that 50 customs applications have been automated and standardized in the “import” and “export” systems on the “Nafza” platform, and the process of valuing the goods can now be carried out from any logistical center without being restricted by the location of the goods, pointing out that importers or their agents have been allowed Customs brokers to take advance customs clearance procedures for goods imported from abroad, pay 1% instead of 30% of the initially estimated taxes and fees, before the goods arrive in Egyptian territory, and make the final settlement and pay the full taxes and fees due after the goods arrive, in accordance with the tariff at the time of release.
The Minister explained that a set of customs facilitations have been approved at dry ports to ease the burden on importers, as a single “transit” customs declaration is submitted on the “Nafza” platform, which includes the bill of each shipping line separately, Considering that dry ports are the “first port of arrival” to meet the import, regulatory and the necessary display authorities rules for the final release of goods after the approval of these authorities, explaining that the goods that are transported by the “indirect transit” system arriving at dry ports are dealt with through the green customs release path and it is sufficient to display them on x-ray inspection machines.
The Minister said that the pledge submitted by the General Authority for Land and Dry Ports has been approved as one of the customs-acceptable guarantees, in which the Authority undertakes to pay the customs tax and other taxes and fees due in the event of a loss, shortage, or exchange of goods or their failure to reach their destination, also shipping agencies and importers have been allowed to transport and store shipments imported from abroad, which have not completed banking procedures, to warehouses and dry ports outside customs ports, so that the transportation is in the name of the shipping agencies, or in the name of the importers in accordance with the established procedures, in a way that contributes to relieving investors and importers of additional burdens of cargo storage at ports (the value of fines, floors, and guards).
El-Shahat Ghatouri, commissioner of the Customs Authority, said that Egypt advanced 10 places in the Logistics Performance Index for 2023 issued by the World Bank, which measures countries’ ability to transport goods across borders quickly and regularly, reaching 57th place globally, in a way that reflects the importance of the national project of the modernization and automation of the customs system, in accordance with the latest international standards and advanced global technologies, which is reflected in “smart customs solutions” that guarantee the achievement of the desired goals by transforming ports into transit gates only, and not places for storage, and strengthening customs governance.
