EXCLUSIVE- Gov’t to collect taxes from new banking tax treatment quarterly, not monthly? The government will likely collect taxes from banks on their holdings of government debt under the recently-passed new treatment on a quarterly, rather than monthly, basis, a senior government official tells Enterprise. The new treatment, which was introduced through amendments to the Income Tax Act, requires that banks and companies separately account for income derived from their holdings of government debt and could see their effective tax rate rise. According to our source, reducing the frequency of tax collection is meant to minimize the burden on banks. The first round of tax payments under the new treatment is scheduled for next month.

Separately, the government is working with the CBE to encourage greater activity on the EGX’s secondary bond market and allow bonds to be traded in the EGX. The move is meant to raise the taxes flowing into state coffers by EGP 15-20 bn, our source tells us.