Egypt's Finance Ministry has ordered the Egypt Free Shops Company (EFSCO) to stop selling alcohol and cigarettes anywhere other than its branches in Egyptian airports, a company source told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
The company source said the decision, which comes days before the celebration of the new year, will grant buyers at the company's outlets in Egyptian airports a customs exemption for one bottle of alcohol and one carton of cigarettes, instead of four of each.
The same source revealed that the new measures have stirred a crisis both in the company and airports, predicting negative repercussions for the company sales.
As part of the new initiative, custom exemptions will also be limited for merchandise and presents brought into the country through airports, the source added.
Alcohol and cigarettes will only be available for buyers in official EFSCO stores upon their arrival at the airport, the source said.
He said that price tags must be placed on items sold at the EFSCO's airport branches to ensure they are not resold outside. The Finance Ministry will provide the company with the price labels, he explained.
Recently authorities at Cairo International Airport have apprehended a number of its workers who have been borrowing the passports of passengers to buy cigarettes and alcohol which they resold to merchants outside of airports in return for hefty sums.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
