EGX Seeks To Find New Alternatives Over Stamp Tax; Chief Says

Dr. Mohamed Omran, the Chairman of the Egyptian Exchange, asserted that the EGX management seeks to reach a compromise with the Egyptian government over the proposed stamp tax on the bourse’s daily selling and buying transactions at 0.001.

Omran further told the state’s official newspaper Al-Ahram, that the government’s decision to impose a stamp tax on the EGX transactions will drive the foreign investments to eventually exit from the EGX. The stamp tax will also contribute to incurring further lack of liquidity in the market, he added.

In fact, EGX’s rivals do not impose such tax on their bourses’ daily buying and selling transactions, Omran said.

The EGX chairman pointed out that a few countries around the world are imposing such tax. Yet, those countries exempt foreign investors from paying such a tax.

Worth to mention, the money market experts have called the government for reconsidering the imposing of such a tax on the EGX. The expert urged the government to take into consideration the adoption of  a unified policy on the country’s investment vessel i.e. not to impose specific taxes on the EGX only.

The experts have highlighted that the market is suffering from a sheer lack of liquidity amid the continuous selling pressures as the majority of investors are hesitated to inject new money while the country is witnessing economic and political instability. Consequently, the Egyptian government should have reached a number of procedures which would encourage the investors.