Exempting expatriate cars from customs injects 50 billion pounds into Egypt in hard currency

The Ministry of Finance launched an initiative to exempt expatriate cars from customs and taxes, in exchange for transferring a cash amount in foreign currency equivalent to the value of these fees in favor of the Ministry of Finance, provided that the car owner recovers the amount after 5 years from the date of payment in the local currency at the exchange rate announced at the time of recovery.

 In an interview on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait expected with Al-Sharq Bloomberg channel to import more than 500,000 cars to Egypt, amounting to 2.5 billion dollars in hard currency (50 billion pounds).

 In a related context, the Egyptian treasury pumped tax revenues of at least 20 to 25 billion pounds to achieve this initiative, which aims to maximize the country's foreign currency resources.

 Mohamed Maait explained that the duration of the initiative is only 4 months, because Egypt has a plan to strengthen the local car industry, and we, as a public treasury, allocate about 3 billion pounds annually for this purpose, and this period is all to benefit from the initiative.

 The Minister of Finance explained that since the launch of the process of exempting an expatriate car from customs and taxes;  “We notice a response from the more than 3.5 million Egyptians residing in the Arab Gulf states,” especially that cars from the upper class have fees of more than 3 million pounds.

 To reassure the expatriates, Maait said that there are absolutely no restrictions on withdrawing the deposit associated with this initiative when it becomes due after 5 years.  “It is like a bond from the Egyptian treasury, and we guarantee it in full.”

 The Minister of Finance explained that the government has a plan for the coming period to develop its foreign exchange resources, which includes similar initiatives to exempt the expatriate's car from taxes.