Investments inside private free-trade zones reach $11B

CAIRO – 3 May 2017: Total capital invested inside Egypt’s private free-trade zones has exceeded $55 billion (996 billion EGP), with $11 billion of total investments, according to a Tuesday governmental report.

The report said the number of projects operating in these zones reached 209 through March 2017.

The report came a day after it was announced Sunday that private free-trade zones will be activated again under the new Investment Law which was set to be finalized Tuesday during the parliament’s general session.

Private free-trade zones help in creating around 83,000 direct jobs with annual wages estimated to be worth $95 million, along with many indirect jobs.

These zones also contribute to the increase of foreign reserves; the Central Bank of Egypt received nearly $30.8 million in fees from the private free-trade zones in 2016 alone, in addition to revenue from exports.

The companies running these zones developed at their own expense an infrastructure spanning 10,000 acres with total investment estimated at nearly $11 billion in value.

Moreover, the private free-trade zones reduced the state’s trade balance deficit in 2016 as they achieved $188 million in surplus.

Commodity exports from the private free-trade zones represented 9.4 percent of Egypt’s non-petroleum exports, which were worth $1.56 billion, during the fiscal years of 2015/16.