CAIRO: The head of Egypt's stock exchange said on Monday that the dividends of listed companies will be exempted from new taxes proposed by the government in its 2011/12 budget. "We reached an agreement to exempt companies listed on the bourse from a tax on distributed profits. At this time we need confidence in the market and to reduce the burden on investors," Mohamed Abdel Salam said by telephone. Traders said reports that the government would impose a dividend tax had helped depress share prices over the past week.
