Government Approves Third Phase of Zero-Customs Car Import Initiative

The Egyptian Cabinet has approved an additional three-month extension of the zero-customs car import initiative for expatriates, beginning January 29th.

The initiative is designed to allow Egyptians living abroad to bring one vehicle for ‘personal use’ to Egypt without incurring customs duties or taxes. Participants are required to deposit the equivalent value of customs charges in foreign currency, which is subsequently refunded to them in Egyptian pounds.

First implemented in October 2022, the government set the expiration date for the initiative at May 2023, but it has since been relaunched several times, most recently in October 2023. This came partly in response to surging demand for the programme, with a threefold increase in applications in the second phase as compared with the first.

Beyond the increased demand, the initiative is also one of many government plans to increase revenues and foreign currency reserves in order to tackle mounting external debt. In its first phase between October 2022 and May of the following year, the initiative generated around USD 763 million from roughly 151,000 participants.