Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk and Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Eng. Hassan El-Khatib held an open dialogue with exporters during a conference organized by the Engineering Export Council of Egypt on the future of the engineering industry and exports amid Egypt’s evolving fiscal policies.

 

Kouchouk praised the resilience and strong performance of Egypt’s private sector, describing it as “flexible, positive, and capable of growth and competitiveness both domestically and globally.” He added: “We take pride in the private sector’s achievements and the 73% growth in private investment last fiscal year. Thank you for your trust in Egypt’s economic and fiscal results.”

 

The Minister announced that the second package of tax facilitation measures will be launched by the end of October and opened for public consultation in November. He emphasized that the new package aims to strengthen tax trust and certainty, reduce burdens on taxpayers, and improve the quality of services. Kouchouk also revealed plans to launch a central digital clearing platform for reconciling government dues and receivables to boost liquidity for investors.

 

He confirmed that the government is re-engineering the VAT refund system to speed up processes, noting that EGP 7 billion in VAT refunds were paid to investors—triple the annual average in previous years. A simplified tax guide for export service transactions will soon be released to boost service export competitiveness, while small taxpayers and entrepreneurs will receive targeted support through the simplified tax regime.

 

Kouchouk further highlighted that, for the first time, Egypt has allocated EGP 45 billion from the state budget to fully fund the export rebate program, alongside a flexible fiscal framework to implement exporters’ proposals. Half of exporters’ arrears have already been paid in cash, with the rest settled through offsets against government dues.

 

Minister Hassan El-Khatib affirmed the government’s commitment to fostering a supportive investment climate through coordination between monetary and fiscal policies. He noted efforts to reduce customs clearance times, enhance trade competitiveness, and expand markets—particularly in Africa and Europe.

 

Eng. Sherif El-Sayyad, Chairman of the Engineering Export Council, praised the close cooperation between the two ministries, which he said paved the way for an unprecedented surge in engineering exports, recording an average annual growth of 26% over the past five years.