By: Ahmed Allam and Mahmoud Salah El-Din
Cairo - Mubasher: The Egyptian supreme council of investment has taken some crucial decisions on its first meeting on Tuesday, according to investors and officials.
The investment council which is chaired by the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took 17 decisions regarding exempting new industrial and agricultural investments in Upper Egypt from taxes for 5 years.
The same exemption has also been granted to new projects that manufacture strategic commodities and products currently imported from abroad.
It was also decided that lands shall be allotted for free for industrial projects in Upper Egypt.
The decisions represent a turning point in creating a good investment environment, said Aly El-Moselhy the head of the Economic Committee in the Egyptian parliament.
El-Moselhy also added that offering some land plots at the new administrative capital and other new cities with a 25% discount represent an attractive investment.
Meanwhile, Sherif Samy, the chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA), believes that these important decisions come in the right time to tackle crucial issues and it shall have positive impacts on the investment atmosphere.
He also stressed the importance of the cooperation between the government and the private sector in achieving the national infrastructure megaprojects.
The chairman of the federation of Egyptian industries, Mohamed Zaki El-Sewedy, said that these decisions will help in revitalizing the economy by encouraging new investments.
El-Sewedy also said that these surprising decisions help in creating a positive sentiment towards the Egyptian market, especially in Upper Egypt.
It’s also worth noting that Prime research rose its expectations for the Egyptian economy, and increased its forecast the GDP growth rate in the fiscal year 2016-2017 to 9%, compared to 5% in FY2015-2016.
Freezing the capital tax was a demand by all the traders and investors in the stock market, until the market regain its stability and after attracting more foreign investments, said Ayman Fouda, head of capital market committee at the Economic African Council.
The Council which was recently formed by the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has among its members the prime minister, the governor of the central bank, as well the ministers of defence, military production, finance, investment, interior, justice, and trade and industry.
Translated by: Moslem Ali
