We work on expanding private sector's contributions in Egyptian economy with ambitious packages for tax and customs facilitations

• We started to implement 20 tax procedures and 30 customs procedures to boost investment
• Our goal is to simplify tax and customs procedures and to cut the cost of production in Egypt
• We expect promising outcomes for the efforts of building confidence, partnership and support to business community which will support tax base expansion
• We achieved the highest increase, 38%, in tax revenues since 2005 through the past ten months without imposing any further burdens
• We have a great opportunity to eliminate tax challenges, most of them do not require legislative amendments
• We target providing financial support to increase spending on competitiveness of economy, human development and debt reduction
• Private sector advances quickly and acquires around 60% of the total investments in the first half of this fiscal year with 80% annual growth rate
• Multiplying provisions of incentive packages to support economic activities in the new budget
• EGP 78bn, highest exceptional support, to encourage industrial, export and tourism activities
• We work on new finance tools as part of government debt reduction strategy
• We look into offering local sukuk, bonds for citizens and other bonds for Egyptians abroad
• External debt of budget bodies declined by about USD 3bn last year and we target to lower it this fiscal year by about USD 1-2bn

 

 

Minister of Finance, Ahmed Kouchouk, affirmed working on three priorities for financial policies to push the economic activity forward as well as to reduce government debt, pointing out that the ministry of finance is also working on expanding the private sector's contributions in Egyptian economy with ambitious packages for tax and customs facilitations.

 

In the annual conference of the Information and Decision Support Center and the Faculty of Economics and Political Science Cairo University, Kouchouk said we started implementation of 20 tax procedures and 30 customs procedures aiming at boosting investment, pointing out that our target is to simplify tax and customs procedures as well as to reduce the cost of production in Egypt.

 

Kouchouk added that we expect promising results for the efforts exerted for building confidence, partnership and support to business community, which would enhance the expansion of tax base. He clarified that we achieved the highest increase, 38%, in tax revenues since 2005, without imposing any further burdens.

 

Kouchouk said we have a great opportunity to eliminate tax challenges, and most of them do not need legislative amendments, affirming that our goal is to provide convenient financial support to increase spending on enhancing the competitive of economy, human development and debt reduction.

 

"The private sector advances quickly, as it recently acquired around 60% of the total investments during the first half of this fiscal year, with an annual growth rate of 80%," said Kouchouk. "The provisions of incentive packages were multiplied to support economic activities in the new budget of the next fiscal year. EGP 78bn were allocated, which is the highest exceptional support, to encourage industrial, export and tourism activities," Kouchouk added.

 

Kouchouk affirmed that the Ministry of Finance is working on new finance tools as part of a strategy aimed at reducing government debt, where the ministry looks into offering local sukuk, bonds for citizens and other bonds for Egyptians abroad.

 

"The external debt of budget bodies declined by about USD 3bn last year, and our goal is to reduce it this fiscal year by about USD 1-2bn," said Kouchouk.