The Ismail government has yet to decide on a timetable for its USD 2-2.5 bn eurobond issuance, said Finance Minister Amr El Garhy following a meeting with Prime Minister Sherif Ismail. The government is monitoring volatility in international markets and will decide in the coming few days when to go forward. That could be as early as this month or as late as the first half of January, he said, according to Al Shorouk.

The meeting, which included the head of the Customs Authority, also explored fixing the exchange rate for custom duties in light of the EGP float, said El Garhy, adding that the move is being considered. Customs Authority chief Magdy Abdel Ghaffar confirmed to Al Ahram that the ministry is talking with the central bank about implementing a fixing the rate for customs. Some importers, including many in the auto industry, have complained that the float has led to a doubling of tariffs. Brilliance Bavaria Auto (a subsidiary of BMW assembler and distributor Bavaria Group) is expecting profits to fall 50% in 2017 as the exchange rate on customs is expected to rise 90-100%, company GM Khaled Saad tells Al Mal.

Speaking of the Customs Act, El Garhy said the ministry is still looking at changes that could be implemented in an overhaul of the legislation, saying there is no deadline to introduce the amendments in the House of Representatives. El Garhy had stated back in September that an amended version of the law would soon be ready for “a national dialogue.”

In other fiscal news, El Garhy stated that the government is studying how to implement the annual raises for state employees who do not fall under the Civil Service Act, which grants bureaucrats annual raises of 7%.