CABINET WATCH- Ministers approve disbursal of EGP 500 mn in overdue export subsidies: The Madbouly Cabinet signed off on disbursing EGP 500 mn in overdue subsidies owed to Egyptian exporters that have committed to expanding their investments, according to an official statement. Exporters are owed bns of overdue subsidies under promises made by the Export Subsidy Fund since 2012. The government began settling these payments under the new framework in September, under which it promised to speed up the payments for larger companies that commit to new investments. Cabinet also approved proposed measures to settle overdue subsidies for Egyptian exporters through 30 June 2019 under the EGP 6 bn export subsidy framework.

Also approved during the weekly meeting:

• The Egyptian Railways Authority’s USD 466.3 mn agreement with Progress Rail Locomotive to supply and upgrade locomotives;
• Egypt’s USD 1.2 bn loan agreement with China’s Exim Bank for the new capital light railway;
• A ministerial decision establishing a National Artificial Intelligence Council mandated with creating a roadmap for the development of AI in Egypt;
• Agreements between the CIT Ministry and Microsoft, ESRI, VMware, and Teradata for digital infrastructure projects in Port Said.