Dr. Mohamed Maait, Minister of Finance, confirmed that there are only two days left, and the period decided to benefit from and register with the initiative to “facilitate the import of Egyptians’ cars abroad” ends, and to pay the value of the prescribed deposit, in accordance with the provisions of the law, and there is no intention to extend the work period of the law “facilitating the import of Egyptians’ cars abroad” again after May 14th.
He explained that the lesson in joining the initiative is the date of the commencement of the procedures for transferring the value of the deposit from abroad no later than the day after tomorrow, Sunday, and not the date of its arrival to the account of the Ministry of Finance in the National Bank of Egypt, even if the request is subject to review by the bank or the customs authority to issue the import approval for the car, and that Egyptian applicants residing abroad may choose any car and replace it at any time within 5 years, as work continues to evaluate cars and determine the due amounts that must be transferred throughout the five years.
The minister indicated that, according to the recent legislative amendments, the validity of the “import approval” for shipping and importing cars has been extended from one year to 5 years, and that the reduced customs tax is valid throughout the validity period of the “import approval”, and the first owner has the right to import the car without being bound by the year of manufacture. And others must not exceed 3 years at the time of customs release, and the end of the initiative work period after tomorrow, Sunday.
-The minister said that the past few days witnessed a great demand for the initiative, as the average daily registration exceeded 6,000, and the average daily transfers amounted to $25 million, pointing out that more than 167,000 Egyptians residing abroad registered electronically to benefit from this initiative, including the controls it includes. And soft procedures, and the total value of payment orders from applicants so far has reached about $835 million.
-The minister added that we are committed to paying the deposits of Egyptians abroad, beneficiaries of the initiative to facilitate the import of cars, on the scheduled dates, at the exchange rate at the time they become due. As an “obligation of the public treasury”, and whoever wants to withdraw the transferred amounts from his account, in favor of the Ministry of Finance, and exit from the initiative after a year has passed from the date of import approval, he applies on the electronic platform, and he will obtain it at the exchange rate at the time of recovery within 3 months, pointing out that There is a “deed of maturity” from the Ministry of Finance, on the public treasury for citizens residing abroad, with the value of the amounts transferred to the account of the Ministry of Finance at the National Bank of Egypt.
He stressed that the recent legislative amendments include reducing the customs tax by 70%, and it applies retroactively to the beneficiaries of the initiative in countries outside the trade agreements, so that the total sums of money transferred from Egyptians abroad in these countries to the account of the Ministry of Finance are reduced by up to 58%, according to the liter capacity of the engine. And the type of fuel, and the Egyptians residing in these countries, who transferred the money, before amending the law on the initiative, should submit a request to refund the customs tax differences after reducing it, and it will be refunded in the foreign currency paid within 6 months from the date of submitting the application on the electronic application for cars Egyptians abroad.
