Egypt’s Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said the ministry is keen on accelerating procedures of importing cars of Egyptian expats who are registered in the Egyptians Expats Cars app, which will allow them to apply to import cars for personal use without paying customs.
Under the new law, Egyptians, 16-year-old and above, who have both valid residence permits in a different country and who have had foreign bank accounts for at least three months are entitled to import one private passenger car for their personal use.
Expats will be required to invest the value of saved customs duties and taxes in foreign currency in an interest-free five-year certificate of deposit (CD), recovering the deposit in Egyptian pounds at the end of the period.
The law also applies to Egyptians with dual citizenship.
Maait underlined Egypt’s commitment to paying back the deposits on the set date, noting that anyone who wants to withdraw from the initiative can do this after one year from the importation approval date.
Meanwhile, Customs Authority Chairman Shahat Ghattori said about 40,000 importation requests were approved and 37,000 more are being examined.
He noted that importation approval is valid for shipping and importing the car within five years.
