President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi instructed the government on March 14 to allocate EGP 100 bn (USD 6.4 bn) to support all the precautionary measures to be taken to combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Invest-Gate reports.

The Finance Ministry unveiled on March 15 that the funding will be made available through emergency liquidity made available in the current fiscal year’s budget, according to a ministerial statement.

The funding includes an EGP 187.6 mn that has been allocated preliminarily for the Health Ministry, of which EGP 153.5 mn will be for medical supplies and preventative measures and EGP 34.1 mn in bonuses to healthcare workers in quarantine.

“All these procedures are in line with the state’s willingness to help all citizens reap the fruits of the economic reform programme,” Maait noted.

Since the virus outbreak worldwide, the Egyptian authorities have been monitoring the situation closely and have been taking measures to prevent the spread of the virus in the country.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided in an unscheduled meeting on March 16 to cut interest rates by 300 basis points.