By: Mahmoud Salah

Cairo – Mubasher: The value-added tax (VAT) law has been referred to the parliament’s public session without setting a rate.

The final decision on the draft law will be adopted on Tuesday and a public session will be held to pass it soon, Hussein Eissa, chairman of the parliament’s Budget and Planning Committee, told Mubasher.

Parliament members voted to set a rate of 12% instead of the 14% submitted by the government, but it was rejected from the Ministry of Finance.

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) loan is related to the parliament’s approval on the VAT law, according to a source in the cooperation ministry.

Eissa added that that the law includes exemptions on 54 goods and the government expects to collect EGP 35 billion representing 10% of the budget’s deficit.

The application of the VAT will raise the tax proceeds by EGP 30 billion ($3.8 billion) in FY 2015-2016. The VAT is planned to replace the current sales tax, according to official expectations.

Translated by: Sara Ghali