Egypt will sign a multilateral agreement for taxes in June 2022, so that tax treatment will take effect from 2023

Newsletter

01 Dec 2021

For our top talks today, Egypt will sign a multilateral agreement for taxes in June 2022, so that tax treatment will take effect from 2023, for which tax returns are submitted in the 2024 tax season, according to Ramy Youssef, Assistant Minister of Finance for Tax Policies and Development. Youssef added that 137 countries, including Egypt, joined this historic agreement announced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It contributes to addressing the tax challenges arising from the digitization of the economy, so that multinational companies pay a fair share of taxes wherever they operate and generate profits in different countries of the world. (Arab Finance)

In a similar context, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) revealed that the sukuk offerings expected for the year 2021 will amount to about 7.5 billion EGP, but the Egyptian capital market has so far witnessed only one sukuk offering of 2.5 billion EGP.
The Egyptian market will witness only one sukuk offering worth about 2 billion EGP, which is disappointing compared to the expectations that the market witnessed at the beginning of this year that the sukuk offerings will reach about EGP 20 billion during 2021. Contact Financial Holding launched the only sukuk issuance YTD in Egypt, with a value of 2.5 billion EGP. Noteworthy, FRA still has sukuk offerings on the table. (Arab Finance)
In addition, the Council of Ministers, in its weekly meeting yesterday, approved the decision of the Ministerial Committee for Tourism and Antiquities by raising the minimum value to 50 USD for five-star hotels, 40 USD for four-star hotels, 30 USD for three-star hotels, 20 USD for two-star hotels, and 10 USD for one-star hotels, as of May 1, 2022.
The decision stipulates that this is with the exception of the governorates of Luxor, Aswan and New Valley, and the cities of Taba and Nuweiba, where it will be implemented as of November 1, 2022.
Most important, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ratified a recently-issued law, No. 152 of 2021, on measures to fight epidemics and pandemics in Egypt after it was approved by the House of Representatives in mid-November.
The new law gives power to the prime minister to impose any measures necessary to combat epidemics and pandemics with the aim of preserving the health and lives of citizens. According to the law, the prime minister will be allowed to declare a state of pandemic emergency to combat epidemics and pandemics. The law also gives the premier the power of closing and reopening schools, nurseries, universities, institutes, any other educational institutions, and any gatherings of students during pandemics and epidemics. However, the powers given to the premier will be for a limited period of time, mostly for one year, and subject to renewal. (Arab Finance)
Egypt won the best promotional campaign launched on social media platforms in Russia, according to what was announced by the global Ad colony platform, one of the leading platforms in evaluating electronic advertising campaigns.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities launched this campaign to promote the Egyptian tourist destination in the Russian market during the past two months, coinciding with the resumption of the Russian tourism movement to Egyptian tourist resorts after a hiatus of nearly six years. (Al-Mal)
And for our investments talks, Al-Mal learned that an investment alliance intends to establish a new factory for the production of rebar, located in the Ataka area of the Suez Governorate, with 5 manufacturing wards, in addition to a facility of 60,000 square meters.
It is worth noting that the company executing the new project is called “EGAT”, and the project is being implemented in partnership with a Lebanese businessman. The Arab Company for Steel Industries “ASF-El Sewedy” is working on the manufacture of metal structures estimated at about 20,000 tons of steel, and “Crown” undertakes the installation work under the full supervision of Arab Steel Industries, which works to supply 1,500 tons per month. It is worth mentioning that the local market consumes the entire production of iron and steel companies annually, and rebar represents from 10 to 12% of the cost of the building and construction process. (Al-Mal)
Korea's Hyundai Group has announced that it has won a 1.7 billion USD contract from Saudi Aramco to build large-scale gas processing facilities.
Hyundai Engineering owns 55% of the joint venture, compared to 45% of Hyundai Engineering and Construction. The two companies had jointly won a 2.9 billion USD deal from the Kuwait Petroleum Industries Company to build a liquefied natural gas import terminal in the Al-Zour region of Kuwait, and also jointly participated in the refinery project in Karbala, Iraq. Hyundai Engineering is seeking to win more new deals linking FEED and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) based on the competitiveness of the FEED and its project execution experience. (Yonhap News Agency)
Lekela Power, the renewable power generation company that delivers utility-scale projects across Africa, announced starting the commercial operation of its West Bakr Wind farm in Egypt after less than two years of construction.
Comprising 96 turbines, installed by Siemens Gamesa, West Bakr Wind will produce over 1000 GWh of renewable electricity every year and prevent more than 530,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. On its own, West Bakr Wind will increase Egypt’s wind power capacity by 18%. The project is part of the Egyptian government’s Build, Own Operate (BOO) scheme, a key element of the government’s ambitious aims to generate 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2022. (Arab Finance)
Likewise, Hisham Tawfik, Minister of Public Business Sector, revealed that 3 Chinese companies have expressed their willingness to enter into a partnership with the ministry to complete the project to manufacture the electric car in Egypt, through the lines of "Al-Nasr Automotive" during the coming period.
The Ministry of Public Business Sector had announced the suspension of negotiations with the Chinese Dongfeng Company to produce the E70 car, which included the signing of the framework agreement in January 2021, explaining that the reason was due to the failure to reach an agreement with the Chinese company to reduce the price of the imported component sufficiently to produce the car and put it at a competitive price. (Al-Mal)
Furthermore, the Indian Embassy in Cairo sent a letter to the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce, confirming the Indian side's desire to implement a plan to promote investments between Egypt and India.
Indian companies have invested 3 billion USD in Egypt, while Egyptian companies have invested 36.7 million USD in India. The Indian embassy highlighted the most important investment opportunities that can be participated in, including the construction of a pipeline, as it seeks to establish a project with a cost of 82 billion USD, starting from next year 2022 to 2025.
Next is “Omicron” global talks, Drugmaker Moderna's CEO set off fresh alarm bells in financial markets after he warned that COVID-19 vaccines were unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron variant as they have been against the Delta version.
Europe's main bourses jolted 1.4% lower and oil shed 3%, while Japan's safe-haven yen, German government bonds and gold all rose. Investors are preparing for swings and opportunities as Omicron spreads. The EU drug regulator said it could approve vaccines adapted to target the Omicron variant within three to four months if needed, but that existing shots would continue to provide protection. The variant was detected in the Netherlands before two flights arrived from South Africa last week carrying the virus, Dutch health officials said. Some 61 out of the more than 600 passengers on the flights tested positive and went into quarantine after arriving on Friday. (Reuters)
Also, President Joe Biden urged Americans not to panic and said the United States was making contingency plans with pharmaceutical companies if new vaccines are needed.
New mask mandates and other measures aimed at curbing the spread of the variant came into force in England, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson eyes an expanded booster program to help increase protection. (Reuters)