It was another busy Wednesday for our new cabinet, which held its second meeting yesterday and approved a number of decisions

#1- More renewables incoming: UAE-based Al Nowais' AMEA Power got the greenlight from the cabinet to expand its renewable energy projects by next summer — the expansion will see AMEA up its renewable capacity in the country by 2 GW.

Remember: AMEA Power has been looking to set up 2.5 GW-worth of solar and wind projects. The company is currently working on 1 GW-worth of renewable projects in Egypt —- a 500 MW solar Abydos plant which is set to begin operations by the end of September, as well as a 500 MW wind farm in Ras Ghareb that is lined up for completion mid-2025.

Part of a bigger plan: The Egyptian and Emirati sides are working to introduce some 4 GW ofrenewable energy into the national grid by next summer in a bid to help Egypt meet heightened energy demand.

This lines up with Madbouly’s post-meeting statements, where he mentioned the cabinet’s goal of having 3-4 GW-worth of renewable energy projects kick off operations and start feeding the national grid by mid 2025. (More on that in the news well, above)

#2- Tax Dispute Resolution Law to be renewed again: The cabinet approved a draft decision to renew the Tax Dispute Resolution Law until January 2025. The law, which had passed the House in September 2016, removes tax dispute cases from the courts and hands them over to committees to seek amicable settlements. The law was originally limited to a one-year period but has been extended time and time again. Some 17k disputes, amounting to over EGP 15.5 bn, have been settled in the ten months between August 2023 and May 2024.

#3- Tougher penalties for messing with your license plates: The cabinet approved tougher penalties for altering car license plates, that includes hiding or modifying the plate. Offenders will face up to one year in prison and fines ranging between EGP 2k-5k.

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