FEI calls for exempting stalled factories from real estate tax

CAIRO – 23 July 2017: The Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) called on Sunday to exempt stalled factories from the real estate tax.

Head of the taxes and duties committee at the FEI Mohammed el-Bahi said that some 7,000 factories are stalled, representing 20 percent of the factories operating in the Egyptian market.

He added that these factories are either entirely closed or operating with a very low production capacity as a result of the increase in production costs on the back of the flotation of the Egyptian pound last year.

Bahi said that the committee asked representatives of the real state tax in their last meeting to exempt the stalled factories, especially that the law permits the Finance Minister to exempt those who cannot pay the real estate tax .

He also called for the exemption of the factories’ unused lands. He said that these lands were bought for expansion purposes but the factories were unable to expand due to financial crises.