Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil defended amending the Importer Registry Act at a hearing with the House of Representatives economic committee, Al Borsa reported. Kabil says the move is to limit the amount of “low quality” foreign products on the domestic market. The amendments include increasing the minimum capital required to be on the registry to EGP 500k from EGP 10,000 for joint liability companies and to EGP 2 mn from EGP 15,000  for limited liability companies. The amendments also impose  of a minimum import requirement of EGP 5 mn for individuals and EGP 10 mn for companies. Importers have six months to meet these new requirements. The amendments have garnered significant opposition from domestic importers, as we noted last week. The importers and home appliances divisions of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce are particularly incensed that the foreigners have been allowed entry into the importers registry