The expat car-for-FX scheme is sticking around a while longer: The government’s expat car-for-FX scheme will likely remain open until mid-May after the House Planning and Budget Committee yesterday gave preliminary approval to amendments granting it a two-month extension.

What’s next: The amendments extending the scheme will now go up for a vote by the House’s general assembly when it reconvenes on Monday 27 February.

REFRESHER- The scheme allows expats to bring cars into Egypt, paying customs fees, VAT, and other taxes upfront in FX. The expats will then receive a full rebate on the dues in five years’ time — paid in EGP at the USD-EGP exchange rate at that time and without interest. The scheme was introduced by the government as one of several measures to drum up hard currency amid an ongoing FX shortage.

Finance Minister Mohamed Maait had said last month there would be no further extensions to the 14 March deadline. The deadline was initially set for 15 February but was pushed after the ministry introduced amendments to make it easier for Egyptians abroad to take advantage of the scheme.

The CBE is on board: “The CBE has no objection to any amendments that could pump foreign exchange into the country, and all we want is that the amendments strike a balance between the interests of Egyptian expats and the need for doubling the country’s FX revenues,” Deputy Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Governor Sherif Farouk told MPs yesterday.

The program has so far raised less than 2% of its target: Ahead of the program’s launch, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said that the scheme could bring in more than USD 2.5 bn by the time it ended on 15 February. As of earlier this week, Egyptian expats had transferred just USD 38.5 mn to import cars into the country, Customs Authority head El Shahat El Ghatwary told a parliamentary committee yesterday, according to Youm7. Some 39k expats have registered for the scheme, 11.4k have paid, and 2.3k have received approval. Just 126 cars have so far been cleared through customs under the scheme, he added.

Expats could also get five years to bring their vehicles into the country under the scheme, up from one year previously, House Budget and Planning Committee Deputy Chairman Yasser Omar told Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 8:42).

EUR 64 MN LOAN FOR CAIRO METRO-

An EUR 64 mn loan from South Korea’s Export-Import Bank (KEXIM) and Credit Agricole for 32 underground trains got a nod from the House Transport Committee. KEXIM will lend the government EUR 36 mn (60%) while the remaining EUR 28 mn will come from Credit Agricole. The trains are set to run on Cairo Metro Lines 3 and 4.