The government has no intention of imposing new taxes to cover this year’s anticipated increase in state subsidized goods and petroleum products, the Egyptian Finance Ministry announced this week.
Atef Malash, head of the Finance Ministry's state budget sector, denied reports that the ministry had submitted an LE4-billion budget appropriation bill to parliament.
Malash stressed that the funds needed for government subsidies this year were currently available and "would cover all contracts made by the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), since financial resources must be provided prior to the import of commodities."
Meanwhile, the GASC has reportedly selected 14 out of the 35 companies that tendered bid offerings last week for the import of 43,500 tons of high-quality subsidized rice for the governorates of Lower Egypt.
According to GASC officials, the rice was purchased at per-ton prices ranging between LE2959 and LE3100. The rice will be stored in the warehouses of the government-run General Wholesale Company, which is responsible for the delivery of rice to state-subsidized grocery outlets.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
