The House of Representatives passed on Monday a bill proposed by the government to grant some facilities to Egyptians living abroad. The bill aims to extend the tax-free car import initiative that allows Egyptians abroad to import cars without paying taxes and fees, in exchange for transferring a certain amount of foreign currency.
The bill was discussed by a committee headed by Fakhri Al-Fekki, the Chairperson of the planning and budget committee in the House of Representatives. He said that the bill was a response to the requests of many Egyptians abroad who had not benefited from the previous initiative, which was enacted by Law No. 161 of 2022. The bill would add three months for eligible Egyptians abroad and their family members to transfer the required amount of foreign currency and import cars without taxes and fees. The Cabinet would have the authority to extend this period for another three months if needed.
The bill sets the same conditions and rules as Law No. 161 of 2022, which stipulates that an Egyptian must have a valid legal residence abroad and must not have previously obtained the facilities offered by the initiative. The amount of foreign currency that must be transferred depends on the type and model of the car.
Al-Shahat Ghatouri, head of the Egyptian Customs Authority, said during the committee meeting that about 184.9 thousand citizens had registered on the platform for the initiative and that about 213,984 payment orders had been issued. He also said that the value of accepted transfers had reached about $450m and was expected to reach $1.1bn by the end of the period.
