Egypt, Japan sign a grant agreement worth LE 15.5M

CAIRO – 8 July 2018: Egypt and Japan signed Sunday a grant agreement to support the establishment of an electronic system for calculating value added tax (VAT) worth LE 15.480 million at the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation.

The agreement was signed by Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr, and Ambassador of Japan to Cairo Takahiro Kagawa, in the presence of Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it, and Head of the Egyptian Commercial Service Ahmed Antar.

The grant is presented by the International Japanese company, BMC.

An official press release revealed that this agreement contributes to the effective implementation of the fiscal policy; it also promotes and supports Egypt's economic reform programs and development plans.

The agreement comes within the framework of the continuous cooperation between the ministries of investment and international cooperation and finance, after the formation of a joint committee between the two ministries.

Nasr said that the joint committee held its first meeting Sunday at the ministry's headquarters where the committee will study the joint issues between the ministries of investment and international cooperation and finance, such as the rules of granting special and additional incentives to investors.

She added that the committee is also working to remove any obstacles facing investors regarding Egyptian customs and taxes.

“The grant agreement comes as part of creating a good investment climate in Egypt, “Minister of Finance Ma’it said.

By the end of June, Ma’it issued a ministerial decision to oblige people dealing with various government agencies to pay their financial dues, including taxes and customs of more than LE 100,000 through one of the electronic payment methods.

For his part, the Japanese ambassador stressed the keenness of his country to support Egypt, pointing out that this grant is a symbol of cooperation between the two countries and will contribute to increasing Egypt’s budget revenues and will support the economic development in Egypt.

He further praised the results of Egypt's economic reform program and measures to improve the investment climate, noting that the climate has become suitable for Japanese companies to pump more investments in Egypt.

In August 2016, the Egyptian Parliament approved the law of the value added tax at 13 percent, to be raised to 14 percent in the following fiscal year, as part of the economic reform program.

Egypt embarked on a bold economic reform program that included the introduction of taxes, such as the value-added tax (VAT), and cutting energy subsidies, with the aim of trimming the budget deficit.