Cabinet approves exempting gold carried by Egyptians coming from abroad from custom duties for 6 months

CAIRO – 10 May 2023: The Cabinet approved on Wednesday a draft decision to exempt semi-wrought gold carried by Egyptians coming from abroad from custom duties and other applicable fees, except Value Added Tax (VAT), for six months.

The decision applies to the semi-wrought gold as well as jewelry and their precious contents, even if they have a crust of precious metals, the Cabinet said in a statement.

However, the exemption does not apply to natural or cultured pearl, precious or semi-precious artificial stones, or the stones fixed in or used in studded jewelry pieces.

The Cabinet said its decision comes “within the framework of the ongoing efforts to stabilize gold prices inside markets and curb the attempts of evasion of customs duties on wrought and semi-wrought gold via different customs outlets”.

The Cabinet’s decision comes while gold prices in Egypt have seen unprecedented rise over the past months with the Egyptian pound losing over 100 percent of its value against the US dollar since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022.

Last week, the prices of gold reached around L3,200 per gram for 24 carat gold, and LE 2,800 and LE 2,400 for the 21 carat and 18 carat gold respectively, which are the most populous among Egyptians.

Nagui Farag, advisor to the Minister of Supply for gold affairs, said in TV remarks on Tuesday that the decision mainly targets gold bars and coins, noting that gold prices per gram abroad are around LE 600 less than the gold prices in Egypt.