Import backlogs soon to be a thing of the past? The government signaled that it has the will and the ability to clear the backlog of goods in ports stemming from the FX shortage through a visit to Alexandria Port by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly on Thursday to oversee the release of goods and to make a televised address to the press (watch, runtime: 17:38).

By the numbers: Madbouly announced that USD 231 mn worth of strategic commodities — excluding gold and oil products — and some USD 464 mn worth of production materials were released between 1-6 March. Over USD 12 bn worth of goods had been released since 1 January, Egyptian Customs Authority (ECA) head El Shahat Ghatwary said.

Strategic commodities and production inputs are priority number one: Food, medicine, animal feed, oil products, raw materials, and production requirements are at the top of the list when it comes to making FX available to speed up the release of goods, Madbouly said. Providing FX to release finished products and consumer goods will be at the bottom of the state’s list of priorities, Madouly added, emphasizing the “the necessity of deepening local industrialization, and the importance of replacing imported products with locally manufactured products.”

ICYMI- An influx of FX from the Ras El Hekma agreement spurred a presidential directive early last week to “immediately release goods from Egyptian ports.” Meanwhile, banks exchanged around USD 1.9 bn via the interbank market over a two-day period following the currency float on Wednesday (We have the full story in the news well, above).

Egypt declares “war” on the black market: The Interior Ministry and security agencies have been told to clamp down on the parallel market and informal transactions with an “iron fist,” Madbouly said at the presser. He described efforts to unify the exchange rate “as by all accounts a war — a war to ensure and restore balance once again to the Egyptian economy”

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