Egypt’s financial regulator confirmed Thursday that the finance ministry has consulted with the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA), the Stock Exchange and the Egyptian Capital Market Association over a projected stamp duty on Egyptian bourse transactions.

“I’m not aware of a date when the stamp duty would be implemented, as the parliament is entitled to vote on it first in any case,” EFSA head Sherif Samy told Ahram Online.

A senior anonymous official at the finance ministry told Reuters earlier Thursday that the ministry is recommending a stamp duty be introduced on stock exchange transactions, at a cost of 0.2 percent to both sellers and buyers.

“We [EFSA] have informed the ministry of our concerns regarding the new levy. [We are concerned about] the yield to be collected to reduce the budget deficit, and that the tax be set at a point that wouldn't affect the stocks’ trading value,” Samy said.

Reuters quoted the ministry official as saying "We will send the income tax law amendments in early March to parliament, and it will include imposing a stamp tax on bourse transactions of EGP 4 per 1,000, which will be EGP 2 per 1,000 on the seller and EGP 2 per 1,000 on the buyer."

According to Samy, the expected tax is an attempt to fairly distribute financial burdens over the state’s different sectors.

Amr Al-Munayer, the deputy finance minister for tax policies was not immediately available for comment.

More than 270 companies are listed on the Egyptian stock exchange and more than 500,000 investors are registered to trade there

Source: Ahram online