Ahmed Kouchouk, Minister of Finance, affirmed that supporting the export sector remains a key pillar of the government's economic agenda, reflected in its policies, initiatives, and programs implemented in partnership with the private sector. He stressed that expanding exports is a fundamental driver of economic growth, higher production, job creation, and enhanced competitiveness of the Egyptian economy.

The Minister said that every increase in export volumes demonstrates the private sector's ability to grow, compete, and expand production, emphasizing that the government will continue working with all partners to build a more competitive economy and a more diversified and sustainable export base capable of opening new markets for Egyptian products.

Kouchouk noted that the government has consistently introduced substantial increases in export support allocations to help expand market access for Egyptian products. The current fiscal year's budget includes EGP 48 billion for export rebate payments and exporter support, compared with EGP 28 billion allocated for export support in FY2025/2026, representing an annual growth rate of 55%.

He reaffirmed the Ministry of Finance's commitment to promoting both merchandise and service exports while strengthening their competitiveness in global markets. He also stressed that the government will continue providing liquidity to the export sector by accelerating the settlement of exporters' outstanding dues.

Addressing exporters, Kouchouk said, "As we promised you, we have disbursed EGP 12.6 billion in cash to nearly 2,500 exporting companies within a single fiscal year." He explained that the first and second installments—representing part of the 50 percent cash payment mechanism—were both disbursed during FY2025/2026 instead of being spread over two fiscal years, underscoring that export promotion remains one of the government's top fiscal policy priorities and a key pillar of enhancing Egypt's economic competitiveness.

The Minister added that the original plan had been to pay 50 percent of exporters' outstanding dues owed by the Export Development Fund in cash over four consecutive fiscal years beginning in FY2025/2026. However, the Ministry of Finance accelerated the implementation schedule by disbursing two installments within the same fiscal year, providing exporters with faster access to liquidity and stronger support for expanding into international markets.

Kouchouk noted that the government has paid EGP 70 billion to exporters over the past six years and is targeting the full settlement of all outstanding dues within the next two years.

For her part, Nevine Mansour, Advisor to the Minister of Finance for Relations with Economic Institutions, said that EGP 5.3 billion was disbursed as the first installment to 2,447 exporting companies during August and September of FY2025/2026, while EGP 7.3 billion was paid as the second installment to 2,328 exporting companies by the end of the same fiscal year. This brought the total amount disbursed to EGP 12.6 billion for approximately 2,500 exporting companies during the fiscal year.