Minister of Finance Dr. Youssef Boutros Ghali has approved a new plan to restructure the customs authority towards a decentralized apparatus that will streamline the release of exports and imports and...

Minister of Finance Dr. Youssef Boutros Ghali has approved a new plan to restructure the customs authority towards a decentralized apparatus that will streamline the release of exports and imports and attain transparency. Ghali announced that independent customs authorities will be set along geographic lines in Egypt to cater to the needs of each area efficiently and expediently. In a meeting with the Egyptian businessmen society under the chairmanship of Khaled Hamza, head of  the customs committee, customs authority chief Galal Abul Fotouh  said that the average customs rate has dropped from 40% to 8.9% to match global rates whereas customs returns have not been affected; having reached 12 billion dollars after radical containment of customs evasion. Already a vibrant customs is activated after the implementation of options for the early release of goods in ports and allowing importers to sell part of the goods to pay the customs fees through one of the banks. He said the e-payments have been implemented where transactions can be completed in three minutes. (source: Al-Akhbar)