CAIRO — Egyptian Cabinet will make the final endorsement of the sukuk bonds bill during its meeting (today) Wednesday, Minister of Finance's adviser Ahmed Al-Naggar said Monday. The Islamic bonds bill will be worked out by the government, prior to referring it to the Shoura Council for discussion, he added. During the meeting of the Financial Affairs Committee which convened to discuss the draft law, Al-Naggar noted that sukuk is capable of luring additional foreign investments. Meanwhile, negotiations over the proposed $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan are to resume early March, according to a statement made by Egypt's Minister of Investment Ossama Saleh. “There have been pledges of international and regional support to Egypt and most of these are in progress,” Saleh said in a statement to Reuters. Minister of Finance Al-Morsi Hegazy said in a public statement that the loan will “greatly benefit Egypt's economy at the current time and should be a great opportunity for future investments”. A number of drastic economic measures were announced by Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi to include tax increases to reduce the budget deficit by increasing state revenues in order for Egypt to be eligible for the IMF loan. Morsi, who also acts as a legislative authority, introduced further tax increases on a range of consumer goods and services such as cement, steel, soft drinks and cigarettes, among many others. However, his decisions led to a “public outcry” when the announcements were made last December, and the President subsequently “freezed” the hikes. Morsi announced further reforms during a televised interview with host Amr El-Leithy Monday morning. “The minimum monthly income for income tax exemption is to be raised from EGP9,000 to EGP12,000 should help alleviate a tax burden on 2.5 million families,” he said during the interview. – SG
