Egypt’s Sisi follows up on SCZone developments, discusses new SMEs law with finance minister

Egypt’s Sisi follows up on SCZone developments, discusses new SMEs law with finance minister

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed on Tuesday the latest developments concerning the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) with the economic group of ministers led by PM Mostafa Madbouly and the governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Tarek Amer, the Egyptian presidency said.

The meeting discussed the most important production projects in the SCZone as well as recent developments including the process of digitising the banking system in the country, the statement read.

The president said that priority should be given to producing goods locally in the SCZone in order to meet the demands of the local market, reduce imports and increase exports.

In a separate meeting with Maait and Deputy Minister of Finance for Fiscal Policies Ahmed Kouchouk, El-Sisi discussed the state's efforts to support SMEs through the new SMEs law, as well as the recent financial and economic indicators of the Egyptian economy.

The president also said that the articles of the new SMEs law must reflect the different incentives and advantages of the law to support the activities of SMEs in the country, like allocating easy finance sources from inside the annual state budget in addition to facilitating registering projects and paying taxes.

Maait discussed