Egypt introduces 38.5% tax on imported mobile phones to combat ‘smuggling’

Egypt has imposed a 38.5 per cent customs tax on imported mobile phones effective immediately, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced yesterday. The move aims to curb widespread smuggling and promote local manufacturing.

“The number of devices entering the country through smuggling is too large,” Madbouly told a press conference. “Countries resort to such measures to regulate the market and encourage the growth of local industry.”

Madbouly also revealed that five multinational companies have established mobile phone manufacturing facilities in Egypt, with the tax designed to protect these investments and boost local production.

For the millionth time, 🇪🇬 PM Madbouly lies in a press conference.

Here, he’s saying that the newly introduced phone tax (38.5%) starts applying today, with all phones purchased prior not being affected. That’s simply not true—many have been affected and risk losing sim access. pic.twitter.com/POfKxPe6Ha

— Nasef (@TheEgyptianHulk) January 1, 2025

Despite earlier remarks by Sherif Elkilany, Vice Minister of Finance for Tax Policies, who said that individuals would not pay taxes on a single personal phone, yesterday’s statement noted that people arriving from abroad must pay duties on imported personal mobile phones within three months of their arrival date. However, the Egyptian Customs Authority (ECA) clarified that foreigners arriving in the country will be exempt from paying any taxes on personal phones activated with non-Egyptian SIM cards.

To support the initiative, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology launched the Telephony app. According to Al-Ahram, Elkilany explained that the launching of the app for Egyptians arriving from abroad to register their imported phones was intended to combat “mobile phone smuggling,” claiming that “95 per cent of the mobile phones entering Egypt are smuggled.”

The app also provides governance tools, enabling users to verify device authenticity and avoid smuggled or counterfeit phones.

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