The campaign of "Khalia Tasdi" .. Do you succeed in reducing car prices in Egypt?

Special - Al Jazeera Net

With the surge in prices that hit all goods and services in Egypt recently, some Egyptians accuse top traders and businessmen of exploiting the crisis to double profits, prompting activists on social networking sites to launch a campaign to boycott the purchase of new cars under the slogan " , Ie "let it rust".

Since the beginning of the year, social networking sites have witnessed calls to boycott the purchase of new cars until fair prices are reached, and the number of followers of the campaign's main page has reached more than 170,000.

The activists are trading pictures of documents and documents that they say are the invoices for buying cars from abroad, after adding customs duties and taxes, pointing out that the gain of importers and distributors exceeds tens of thousands of pounds in one car, where the profit margin to more than one hundred thousand pounds Pounds).

Greed traders
Despite the recent proliferation of the campaign and the interaction of the media with it, it started in October 2015 due to the rise in car prices. The end of 2016 followed the decision to float the pound, which led to the decline of the Egyptian currency, which affected the rise in imported goods remarkably, Which businessmen say is the reason for rising prices, not monopoly or exploitation.

The campaign has caught fire in the past few days after the Egyptian government's decision to cut customs on European-origin cars, which means lower prices for these cars. But campaigners accuse importers of circumventing the decision to keep a big profit margin.

The founder of the campaign, Mohammed Radi, said that the reasons for his objection to buying cars at the present time did not differ from what they had been since the launch four years ago, stressing that the main demand for the campaign is the need for control of car prices and not leave it to what he called the greed of traders.

He pointed out that the extreme exaggeration ahead of the abolition of customs and many citizens accused that customs will fall from 100% to zero, which is not true, where the application of this agreement by 10% each year, adding that "However, prices did not fall throughout this period."

Stagnation in the markets
Campaign organizers and activists on the front page said sales were affected by the campaign's activity, but Alaa Al-Sabaa, a member of the General Motors Division of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, denied the impact of the "Khaliha Tasidi" campaign on sales. He said the market had been stagnating for months. the sales.

Al-Saba said in a press statement that the decline in sales is due to expectations of customers with large price declines with the introduction of the last tranche of tariff cuts on European imports and reluctance to buy.

Mutual accusations
On the other hand, the businessmen accused the campaign of disrupting the market and distorting their reputation, which is denied by the statement of the campaign, pointed out that the main objective is not to terminate the work of agencies or distributors or cause them financial losses, stressing that they have the right to trade and gain in the satisfaction of both parties to the sale .

Ghabbour Auto, the Hyundai, Geely, Mazda and Chery, issued a statement warning that it would circulate information on the cost of some of the cars imported by the company. The statement said the company would take legal action for anyone "promoting or trading false information about the cost."

In response to the company's statement, the pioneers of social communication discussed a calculation of the cost of some imported cars showing the value of the cost of the car after payment of duties and taxes before the customs exemption, which shows that the company achieved gains described as "superstitious".

Not only did the activists have a page on the "Khaliha Tasadi" campaign, but some of them set up special groups to communicate about the campaign and share their experiences in prices and compare them with world prices, such as the group (Khalili, the customs and the greed of car dealerships), and the interaction of a number of Egyptians abroad with the group, They shared videos showing car prices abroad.

Customs exemption
On January 1, Egypt introduced a new customs exemption on cars from the European Union in accordance with the European Partnership Agreement, which provides for a reduction of customs duties on goods from EU countries to zero by 2019.

Egypt signed the 2001 agreement with the European Union and entered into force in June 2004. The agreement provides for the gradual elimination of customs duties on European exports to Egypt during the period from 2004 to 2019. This agreement will reach zero at the end of the transitional period of 15 years, In 2019, while the agreement gives Egyptian industrial exports to Europe a complete exemption from customs since 2004.