Foreign direct investment rises 15%: Investment Min.

CAIRO – 25 April 2018: Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been significantly picking up, as it increased 15 percent, according to Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr.

The minister clarified in an interview with Bloomberg that a large percentage of FDI is directed to gas and oil fields.

She noted that total private investment increased 47 percent, adding that the current investment law has provided incentives to attract more investments to sectors that are specifically enhancing productivity and creating jobs.

“We started with major fiscal consolidations and monetary policy, including the flotation of the exchange rate, and then we moved firmly with structure adjustment, including cutting down red tape, removing bureaucracy,” the minister said.

Egypt floated its currency in November 2016; losing 50 percent of its value, as a part of an economic reform program.

She clarified that the investment law has put a lot of insurances and guarantees, establishing investor service centers that provide these guarantees.

Egypt passed a new investment law in 2017 that offers foreign investors a bundle of incentives that include tax breaks and rebates. It also deals with bureaucratic problems, promises the simplification of procedures, and provides guarantees for investors.

New investor service centers are a part of efforts to boost investment, as they bring together all the agencies that an investor might need in one place, including the Real Estate Registration Office, the Commercial Register, the Chambers of Commerce and the Financial Regulatory Authority.

Nasr stated that the key stimulus in Egypt is that it’s a huge country with a large number of youths, which provides businessmen with a young and skilled labor force, adding that the cost of business is very competitive when compared with neighboring markets and other emerging economies.

She referred to the investment, companies and bankruptcy laws that are now available in Egypt, clarifying that the legislative network is conducive, which helped in increasing the number of the established companies by 40 percent.

Nasr headed to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, April 18 to attend the spring meetings held by the board of governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The 2018 spring meetings took place in Washington from April 20 to April 22, covering issues about monetary policy, the economic and social program of the government, and the progress made in the Egyptian economic reform program.