Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Egypt's Duty Free Records 13.7 Per Cent Profit Increase

The tourism industry is at its lowest point and Egypt's foreign reserves are running alarmingly low, but guess who is making a profit?

Staff Writer

The devaluation of the Egyptian pound in recent months seems to agree with the country’s Duty Free Company, which reported a net profit of EGP 61.24 million in the fiscal year 2015/2016 as opposed to EGP 53.85 million last year, marking a 13.7 per cent increase, according to Daily News Egypt.

A source within the company told the publication that as much as EGP 11.73 million of Egypt’s Duty Free’s annual profits this year came as a direct result of the Egyptian pound’s devaluation against the US dollar.

Egypt's Duty Free imports goods then resells them at airports and seaports in foreign currency and in Egyptian pounds at its local outlets.

The drastic drop in tourism that followed political unrest in 2011, and was exacerbated after the downing of the Russian aircraft in October 2015, constituted a major challenge for the company, but the source told Daily News Egypt that the Duty Free was able to overcome it by offering promotions and launching more branches across the country.  

The company is targeting a net profit of EGP 61.023 million in the next fiscal year, the estimated budget data revealed – which, according to the source, seems perfectly feasible as Egypt's Duty Free holds EGP 67 million worth of goods in storage.