Taxpayers who are in arrears to the government will catch a bit of a break this year after representatives approved amendments that will reduce late payment fees due before 31 August by 65%. The bill had originally been set to waive 50% of fees due before 15 July, but the Finance Ministry moved to make it more generous in yesterday’s session after MPs called for more support to taxpayers amid the fallout from the crisis in Ukraine. The move comes as the House of Representatives looks to close out this legislative cycle today.

What about amendments to the Competition Act? They’ve been kicked into the long grass: MPs won’t take a vote on proposals to hand the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) greater powers over mergers and acquisitions until the next legislative session, which begins in October. Negotiations over key parts of the amendments to the Competition Act remained at a standstill yesterday, with the ECA not seeing eye to eye with the central bank, the Financial Regulatory Authority and the EGX over how much power it should have to regulate M&As.

Want more on the proposed changes to competition rules? We have an explainer here.

Railway money: The House also approved a KWD 750k (USD 2.45 mn) grant from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to the International Cooperation Ministry to prepare feasibility studies for a rail connection between Egypt and Sudan.