Talk shows take on the new mobile phone import rules

Talk shows last night were fixated on the government’s decision to scrap customs exemptions for mobile phones brought in by travelers from abroad.

The House is pushing back: House Budget Committee Deputy Chair Abdel Moneim Emam slammed the decision during a call with Lamees El Hadidi on Al Sora (watch, runtime: 16:49). Emam argued that Egyptians living abroad should be granted an exemption for at least one handset per year as a perk for their contribution to the economy. He highlighted a massive price discrepancy between locally-assembled handsets and those sold in Gulf markets.

The gov’t defense — it’s to support local industry: Deputy Finance Minister for Taxes Sherif Al Kilani defended the move to El Hadidi, urging a shift in focus toward supporting domestic manufacturing. Al Kilani rejected the price-gap claims, asserting that domestic units are significantly cheaper than their imported counterparts.

The industry stats: Around 92% of the mobile brands purchased by Egyptians are now manufactured locally, NTRA spokesperson Mohamed Ibrahim told Yahduth Fi Misr’s Sherif Amer (watch, runtime: 11:02). The spokesperson noted that 50% of all handsets sold in Egypt last year were made in Egypt.

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