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Wednesday, 3 May 2017

House gives preliminary nod to Investment Act, postpones vote to discuss private free zones

The House has approved the Investment Act in principle, but postponed its final vote to today until issues over private free zones are put to rest. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Investment Act in a plenary session today after MPs gave a preliminary nod to 90 of its 92 articles during a general assembly session late yesterday afternoon, Al Mal says.

Why didn’t it pass last night? The final vote was postponed until members of the Economic Committee can resolve disagreements with the finance and investment ministries over articles relating to the return of private free zones. The Finance Ministry rejected the committee’s move on Sunday to re-introduce private free zones under the new act, which broke the committee’s agreement with the ministry, high-ranking officials alleged in a talk with Al Mal. While private free zones continue to exist, the establishment of new ones had been banned in 2015.

Abdel Aal brokering a compromise? House Speaker Ali Abdel Aal reportedly met with Investment Minister Sahar Nasr, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy and Deputy Finance Minister Amr El Monayer after yesterday’s session in a bid to diffuse the issue, urging MPs on the Economics Committee to do the same. The issue: The Economics Committee still wants to give the green light to private free zones despite the Finance Ministry’s objections, deputy chair Amr El Gohary tells Al Mal. Speaking during Tuesday’s assembly, Nasr said that the government and representatives will work to push the act out as quickly as possible.

No nationalization: Among the articles approved on Tuesday by the House were those that prohibit the nationalization of private investments and projects.

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