Gov’t settles overdue export subsidies with 31 companies: The trade and finance ministries have signed agreements with 31 foreign and local companies to settle outstanding export subsidy payments, the Trade and Industry Ministry said in a statement (pdf), without disclosing how much the companies were paid. This comes less than a week after Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly ordered the Finance Ministry to begin paying the dues in February.

The government has so far paid out EGP 790 mn in overdue subsidies to 75 companies, and agreements have been signed with 67 other large companies that will see EGP 6 bn paid out over the coming five years as long as they commit to new investments. Of this, EGP 291 mn had been paid to 12 exporters by the end of last year, Trade Minister Nevine Gamea said yesterday.

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 government had approved in June.