Egypt's parliament approves VAT at 13pct rate in 2016/17

Egypt’s parliament approved on Sunday the long-delayed value added tax (VAT) at a rate of 13 percent for the 2016/17 fiscal year, but said it will rise to 14 percent the following year.

The parliament approved 30 articles of the VAT law out of 74. The rest will be discussed in a Monday session, state news agency MENA reported.



The delayed VAT law is part of the government's fiscal reform programme, implemented in July 2014, through which energy subsidies are cut and new taxes are introduced to reduce the country's ballooning budget deficit – estimated at 11.5 percent of GDP in fiscal year 2015/16.
Earlier on Sunday, a 118-page report prepared by the committees of legislative and constitutional affairs and the budget indicated that MPs were not able to reach an agreement on some of its articles, especially the VAT rate.