Madbouly talks incentives, tax, reform, labor relations, education, mergers and more in his weekly presser that followed cabinet giving its approval to a number of decisions during its weekly meeting.

THE RUNDOWN-

#1- Tax reform package to be finalized in the coming days: Madbouly added he is working with Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk to finalize the tax reform announced earlier this month by the end of September, according to a separate statement.

#2- New incentive packages are in the works: Madbouly said — according to a another statement — he is coordinating with Investment and Trade Minister Hassan El Khatib over a new package that would encourage and incentivize both new and current investors to inject more investments into various sectors, without providing any further details.

#3- Ministries have nearly ironed out all the details of the new government’s action plan: The new Madbouly cabinet is in the process of finalizing its full and detailed work plan, with ministries putting their final touches on the plan before it is sent to the House.

ICYMI: Enterprise spoke with El Khatib during the 2024 EnterpriseAM Finance Forum this week, where he touched on his priorities going forward. You can read the full interview here.

#4- Introducing the Supreme Council for Social Dialogue in Labor: The cabinet approved a draft decision put forward by the Prime Minister to establish the Supreme Council for Social Dialogue in Labor — which will include 11 members representing employers’ organizations and 11 members representing workers’ organizations like trade unions. The body headed by Labor Minister Mohamed Gobran will be responsible for helping develop national policies, improve cooperation between employers and employees, and settling disputes before industrial action takes place.

Remember: The Supreme Council for Social Dialogue has been discussing the redrafted Labor Act since May ahead of passing it along to the House for discussion. The government pulled the bill from the House last year to redraft it after backlash from the business community, which said the original version was lopsided in favor of workers. Prior to the redraft, the bill would have introduced new labor rights, including legislating mandatory annual raises, caps on working hours, and longer maternity leave and notice periods, among other things.

#5- Maintaining voting powers at the EBRD: The cabinet approved a draft presidential decree that will see Egypt subscribe to 414 shares in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s EUR 4 bn capital increase to ensure we maintain voting power.

#6- Two state-owned firms to merge: The Military Production Ministry received approval from the cabinet to merge two of its firms — Al Maasara for Engineering Industries and Helwan Diesel Engines — as part of a push from the ministry to establish larger economic entities that carry out the implementation of national projects and achieve better returns.

#7- The government’s progress on education targets was also on the docket: The prime minister noted the Education Ministry’s efforts to add classrooms and address teacher shortages, saying that early estimates suggest that most schools now have class sizes of less than 50 students per class as a result of the ministry’s work.

#8- And a brief update on the meds shortage: Madbouly added that the public could be assured that shortages of certain medications would be resolved in the coming weeks, while noting that pharma factories have increased their production of various medications.

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