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Tuesday, 5 May 2020

FinMin pushes through change to levy on fuel as House green-lights new fees to help shore up public finances

LEGISLATION WATCH- FinMin pushes through change to levy on fuel as House green-lights new fees to help shore up public finances: The House of Representatives has approved the government’s plan to directly pocket a levy on fuel as part of a series of new “development fees” to shore up government finances as it ramps up spending to fight the coronavirus, Al Masry Al Youm reports. Finance Minister Mohamed Maait asked the House general assembly to allow the state to directly pocket the levy on gasoline and diesel a day after the proposal was rejected by the House Planning and Budgeting Committee.

Other fees approved yesterday as part of the same bill included new levies on mobile phones, pet food and sporting contracts, among others.

Prices at the pump will not go up, Maait said. For starters, the levy isn’t exactly new: a fee of EGP 0.30 / liter of gasoline and EGP 0.25 / liter of diesel is already included in the price. What is changing is who gets to collect the fee. The legislation will see the government collect the proceeds of fuel development fees, rather than state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), Maait told talk show host Ahmed Moussa last night (watch, runtime: 33:50). Maait promised MPs yesterday that the cost of the development fee will be borne by EGPC and that the prices paid by consumers would not rise.

Are bureaucrats about to get a 1% wage cut for the next year? Civil servants and employees of state-owned companies could end up foregoing 1% of their salaries for one year, according to draft legislation seen by Masrawy. The news outlet says the austerity measure could go into effect starting this month if the measure can get cabinet and House approval in the coming weeks. Proceeds from the levy would be deposited into an account at the central bank and governed by rules to be drawn up by the cabinet.

FinMin will have more soon: Maait refused to disclose details about wage levy when asked by Moussa last night, noting only that authorities are planning to issue a statement soon (watch, runtime: 2:37).

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