Egyptian investments in Africa reach $10.2B: Minister

CAIRO – 8 November 2018: Egyptian investments in Africa recorded $10.2 billion, and African Investments in Egypt hit around $2.8 billion, according to Minister of Investment Sahar Nasr.

Nasr noted that President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi puts the economic and investment relationships with Africa as a priority.

This came during her participation at the Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa, which was attended by 54 African countries and the presidents of South Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia and Guinea, vice president of Nigeria and prime ministers of Cameroon and Rwanda.

The minister stressed that an ambitious national program of economic reform has been implemented in cooperation with the international financial institutions, which includes a package of fiscal, monetary and legislative reforms to improve the business and investment climate and remove barriers to the work of the private sector and foreign investors.

Nasr invited the audience to participate in Africa 2018 Forum, which will be held under the auspices of the president and will be organized by the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation and the Regional Investment Agency of the COMESA Organization from December 8 to 9.

The minister affirmed the importance of this forum in setting priorities for development of the African continent.

During the session, the attendees praised the investment climate and opportunities in Egypt, especially after RAND Merchant Bank selected Egypt as the best country to invest in through 2019 in Africa in the "Where to invest in Africa" report.

The bank described Egypt as the largest African market in terms of GDP, with the largest consumer market in the Middle East and North Africa.

In a session about promising projects in investment in collaboration with G20 Partnership for Africa Initiative, a project for the establishment of the Egyptian Refining Company was presented, which is considered to be the largest private sector’s project with an investment cost of $4.273 billion, including $2.6 billion agreements with a number of international financial institutions, namely the African Development Bank, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the Nippon Export and Investment Insurance Corporation, and the Korea Export and Import Bank .

For his part, Head of African Development Bank Akinumi Adesina pointed out the importance of the national projects implemented by Egypt, especially the Suez Canal Development Project and the development of ports, which will contribute to increasing trade and investment between East and West, reflecting positively on Egypt and Africa.

The bank has invested $45 billion in operations across Africa with a strong focus on least developed countries, he said.