Egypt's parliament approves laws regulating FinTech, renewable energy development

Gamal Essam El-Din , Wednesday 5 Jan 2022

Egypt's parliament approved on Wednesday three laws related to economic activities; namely on regulating and promoting the use of financial technology (FinTech) in non-banking financial activities, allowing the finance ministry to transfer money from private funds and accounts into the state treasury, and setting up a renewable energy development authority.

Egypt s parliament
Egypt s parliament (Photo: Al-Ahram)

The FinTech law aims to widen the scope of electronic non-banking financial activities with the objective of cutting the costs of services provided by these activities, as well as promoting the role of Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority in making sure that non-banking financial activities observe transparency and rational governance.

The second law allows the finance ministry to legally transfer part of the proceeds of private funds and accounts and the surplus achieved by public institutions on 30 June 2021 to the state treasury. The law aims to support the state budget in terms of generating additional financial resources necessary to implement public projects and services.

The third law seeks to cancel the Hydraulic Electric Power Stations Authority and transfer its assets to the Renewable Energy Utilisation and Development Authority, which will be responsible from now on for implementing all kinds of electric generation projects, including the ones built on Nile River waterfalls.

The House also approved Wednesday amending two laws on regulating the performance of universities and the Academy of Arts.

The two laws allow experienced professors who reach retirement age to remain in service and get an adequate financial bonus plus their pension. The law allows emeritus professors to get the same financial privileges granted to the university's teaching board, with the exception of holding administrative posts.

On Wednesday, the House also approved all the articles of the new General Unified Economic Planning law, which aims to streamline the methods of preparing the country's state budget in terms of observing the principles of transparency, diversity, decentralization and impartiality.

Finally, MPs provisionally approved amending the law regulating the performance of the Cotton Improvement Fund. The Fund will be merged into the Cotton Research Centre, which is affiliated with the Agricultural Research Centre.

House speaker Hanafi Gibali has said the House's coming upcoming sessions will be held on 23 January.

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