What happened in the upper and lower houses of parliament yesterday?

#1- The contractor compensation bill is heading to the House general assembly: The House Housing Committee yesterday gave a final approval to amendments that would see the government pay compensation to contractors who have suffered losses on the back of recent economic reforms such as the EGP float. The Senate green-lit the move at the end of October.

Remember: MPs are currently on recess because of COP27 and will return on Sunday, 20 November.

#2- Senate tweaks FX-for-tax cuts bill: The Senate made a minor change to draft amendments that would grant income tax breaks to investors who use FX to finance at least half of the cost of their projects. The change to the proposed amendments to the 2017 Investment Act would now have companies receive a tax cut ranging between 15% and 55% on income generated by projects funded by FX, instead of up to 55%. Senators approved the legislation on Sunday.

#3- Term limits for attachés: The Senate gave a final nod to amendments to a 1982 law regulating the performance of Egyptian diplomatic and consular corps. The one-article bill allows the foreign minister to recruit employees affiliated with ministries to act as technical attachés at diplomatic and consular missions abroad for one-year renewable terms, rather than for an indefinite number of years currently.

What’s next: The bill will make its way to the House of Representatives to be discussed and passed.

FYI- The Senate has adjourned and will return on Sunday 27 November.

IN THE HOUSE NEXT WEEK-

The House Housing committee will discuss government-drafted amendments to the Unified Building Code, committee chairman Rep. Emad Hammouda said. The changes to the code — which has already been amended multiple times since it was passed in March 2020 — are expected to resolve some of the problems of the legislation.