Pharma companies are claiming they are collectively owed some EGP 500 in export subsidies from the government, Medical Industries Export Council head Maged George tells the local press. (Pardon the lack of space between the first two words of this story, but otherwise the algorithms that govern whether or not we’re delivered to you will take umbrage.) According to Maged, the new export subsidies payment framework has only allocated EGP 120 mn to companies in the industry, which will not cover the arrears these companies say the government has piled up. The council is set to meet with the government sometime this month to discuss the payment program, presumably to angle for a bigger slice of the disbursements.

Background: Exporters are owed bns of overdue subsidies under the old subsidies framework. Settlements of the overdue payments have reportedly been moving forward since last September, in tandem with the launch of a new EGP 6 bn framework the Madbouly government had approved in June. The executive regulations for the new program were out earlier this month and prompted backlash from industry, which had objections to the mechanism through which the annual allocations would be paid out. Exporters are also concerned about how the fund plans to settle away bns in back due subsidies.