Parliament will discuss on Wednesday the compensation law for contractors affected by the flotation of the Egyptian pound, said the head of parliament’s Housing Committee Alaa Waly.
In its meeting on Sunday, the cabinet approved the compensation law for all companies affected by recent economic decisions, such as the pound’s floatation and increasing banks’ interest rates by 3%, as well as applying the value-added tax and increasing prices of petroleum products.
Waly added that the law is “exceptional” and will be used in the future when it is called for, such as when a sector is affected by government decisions.
He said that the law will allow for the formation of a supreme committee for compensations, specialised in looking into the files of the sectors affected by the decisions after contracting with the government and private sector.
The compensations will be provided to affected companies for contracts issued during the period from March until December 2016.
“The committee will work on reaching a price formula to determine the compensations suitable for the size of the damage of any economic sector,” he added.
According to the draft law, the committee will be formed through a decision made by the prime minister, the minister of housing, head of the State Council’s Fatwa Department, head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), head of the Egyptian Federation Management for Construction and Building Contractors, and representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning, the Administrative Control Authority (ACA), and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce.
The committee has the right to use those it finds that have expertise in its field of work; however, they must not have the right to vote. Coordination was carried out with all concerned parties, such as the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) and Chambers of Commerce during the drafting of the law.
He stressed that all contracts of any given sector entered into by the state before issuing these laws will be subject to the new law.
