Egypt releases $4.8bn goods stuck at ports in 4 days, import backlog almost cleared – PM

Egypt has released goods worth $4.8 billion stuck at ports between January 14 and 17 and the imports backlog at ports had been all but cleared, said Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly on Wednesday.

The current backlog of imported goods at ports stands at around $5.3 billion, of which more than half ($3 billion) is pending documents from importers rather than hard currency to be released, Madbouly added in a televised statement.

The government worked to clear the $4.8 billion goods in just four days last week, putting the total value cleared since December 1 at around $13.9 billion.

The country’s hard currency shortage, notably in the dollar, is in part due to the exit of approximately $25 billion in indirect investments — hot money –with the start of the Russian war in Ukraine in February. The crisis has forced the Egyptian authorities to apply curbs on import finance, which has caused vast quantities of goods to stuck at ports.