Expatriate appetite
Ihab Khalifa, who works as a researcher in the field of technology in the UAE, believes that “the initiative is fair and has attracted the savings of everyone who wants to bring in his car from abroad. The initiative was popular among Egyptians in the Gulf, and therefore it succeeded. If the period of benefiting from the initiative was extended for another period, the new beneficiaries would be.” They are the new immigrants.”
The Egyptian initiative, which lasted for about 5 months and attracted about 170,000 Egyptians residing abroad, faced several criticisms when it was launched last November, which prompted the government to amend it last March.
Khalifa added, “When the initiative was launched in November, it was not attractive, but the amendments approved by Parliament and implemented by the Egyptian government in March opened the appetite of expatriates to participate.”
The initiative’s proceeds amounted to $307 million during the first 3 months of its launch, but in just 30 working days after adjusting its fees in March, it attracted $593 million, meaning that the average daily proceeds after the modifications amounted to five times the daily proceeds before the modifications.
The amendments to the law included a reduction of 70% of the value of customs duties, so that the beneficiary deposits 30% of the value of those fees in dollars, and then recovers it after 5 years instead of one year. 6 months.
Egypt decides to grant its nationality in return for buying a property for $300,000
Hossam Selim, an accountant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, says that the success of the initiative or not will become clearer during the coming period, especially since the Egyptian can exchange his car for another within 5 years. What is happening now, from his point of view, is booking a payment order for the cheapest car, with the intention of changing it within a year when he settles on the car that he will bring to Egypt, noting that the average value of the payment order amounted to only 5 thousand dollars exactly, which is a low value compared to car prices abroad.
The customs tax in Egypt on passenger cars equipped with an internal combustion engine (that is, running on fuel) is 135% of the value of buying a car abroad, in addition to the table tax of 15%, and the value-added tax of 14%. While it decreases for hybrid cars imported from outside the European Union, to range between 30% and 100% as a customs tax, and from 15% to 30% as a table tax, and 14% as a value-added tax. Whereas, electric cars are exempt from all customs and fees, except for value added.
Ihab Khalifa, one of the beneficiaries of the initiative and a resident of the Emirates, draws attention to the fact that his only fear about the initiative is that “the difference in the exchange rate of the dollar between the official market and the parallel market is large upon recovery. A 70% discount from customs is currently attractive, but we fear that this discount will be devoured.” When we recover our money at prices that are much lower than the real market, so ensuring the success of the initiative in unifying the exchange rate and eliminating the parallel market.
