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The Head of the Egyptian Customs Authority, al-Shahat Ghatouri, affirmed on Sunday the Finance Ministry’s commitment to paying the deposits of Egyptians abroad who benefit from the initiative to facilitate the import of cars on dates set at the exchange rate at the time it becomes due, as an “obligation on the public treasury”.
Ghatouri continued that those who want to withdraw the money transferred from their account to the Finance Ministry, and exit from the initiative after a year from the date of import approval, can apply on the electronic platform.
They will then obtain it at the exchange rate at the time of recovery within three months, he added.
Finance Minister Mohamed Maait confirmed that the cabinet agreed to allow those who received payment orders in the initiative to “facilitate the import of cars of Egyptians abroad, – currently numbering 84,000 – to complete the bank transfer procedure from abroad within a month, and pay the value of the prescribed deposit.
This is in order to obtain import approval, and complete the rest of the necessary procedures to import their cars.
He pointed out that procedures for recovering the customs tax differences have begun for those who paid them at 100 percent before reducing them to 70 percent, through a bank account in dollars in Egypt or in the country of residence, as per the customer’s choice.
The validity of the “import approval” for shipping and importing cars extends to five years, he explained, and that the reduced customs tax is valid throughout the period of validity of the “import approval”.
The first owner has the right to import the car without being bound by the year of manufacture, he added.