CAIRO, Feb 24 (MENA) - Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly chaired a meeting on Monday to discuss efforts to ensure a secure supply of strategic goods and products.

The meeting was attended by senior officials and ministers, including Hassan Abdalla, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt; Eng. Mahmoud Esmat, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy; Ahmed Kouchouk, Minister of Finance; Dr. Sherif Farouk, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade; Eng. Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources; Major General Walid Abu El-Magd, Deputy Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, along with other officials from the relevant ministries.

Madbouly emphasized the importance of fulfilling President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s directives to maintain sufficient stocks of essential commodities and build a strategic reserve.

This reserve would allow the state to meet citizens' needs for these goods in adequate quantities and at fair prices while promoting greater market stability.

During the meeting, the Minister of Petroleum highlighted that boosting local production in the coming period will help strengthen the reserve and strategic stock.

In this regard, he noted that increasing local production would help save approximately $1.5 billion in import costs every six months, starting from January 2025.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Electricity outlined ongoing efforts to boost the share of energy generated from renewable sources on the national electricity grid, aiming to reduce the import bill for petroleum products required to operate power stations.

He also highlighted steps taken to enhance the operational efficiency of stations and networks, alongside efforts in the power linkage grid project with Saudi Arabia.

Regarding the availability of essential and basic commodities, the Minister of Supply and Internal Trade also confirmed that all these commodities have secure reserves, with some sufficient to cover a full year’s demand. (MENA)

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