Egypt passes delayed investment law to smooth business, attract dollars
CAIRO: Egypt’s parliament passed a long-delayed investment law to streamline doing business in Egypt and to create incentives it hopes will bring back investors’ dollars after years of turmoil.
Egypt floated its pound currency last November and accepted a threeyear US$12 billion IMF programme tied to ambitious economic reforms, part of a bid to restore capital flows that dried up after its 2011 uprising drove away investors and tourists.
The new law is expected to boost badly needed investment by cutting down bureaucracy, especially for starting new projects, and providing more incentives to investors looking to put money in Egypt.
“A large number of investors were waiting impatiently for the law in order to understand the investment environment in Egypt and its incentives, especially with regards to the cost of starting a project and incentives for land,” said Reham El-Desouki, an economist at Arqaam Capital.
The government approved an earlier version of the investment law in 2015 that it said would bolster investor confidence, but the legislation was criticised for coming up short.
The new investment law includes a raft of new incentives, such as a 50 per cent tax discount on invest- ments made in underdeveloped areas and government support for the cost of connecting utilities to new projects.
One provision will return to investors half of what they pay to acquire land for industrial projects if production begins within two years.