State keen to diversify promising investment opportunities for local, foreign investors: Planning Minister
09 January 2023
Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Hala El-Said said on Monday that the Egyptian State is keen to diversify promising investment opportunities for local and foreign investors.
El-Said made the remarks during her participation in a meeting of the joint committee comprising of the Senate’s committees of financial, economic and investment affairs, constitutional and legislative affairs, industry and trade, as well as energy, environment and manpower.
The meeting touched on efforts to stimulate investment in Egypt.
The planning minister said there are unprecedented economic and geopolitical changes and challenges that have affected most indicators for global economy, foremost of which is the decline seen in global growth from 6% in 2021 to 3.2% in 2022.
She added that the State has implemented several legislative and institutional reforms via issuing a set of laws and legislation that aim to simplify procedures for establishing projects as well as to stimulate the private sector, and domestic and foreign investments.
El-Said drew attention to the launch of the offering program in Egypt to list a number of state-owned companies on the stock exchange, with the aim of revitalizing the capital markets by offering shares in government-owned companies to citizens and to local and international investors and diversifying the ownership base.
She also referred to the establishment of The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE) in 2018 as one of the mechanisms to strengthen partnership with the local and foreign private sector, which is the ideal partner for the private sector.
El-Said also highlighted the existence of a Supreme Investment Council headed by the President of the Republic, and with the membership of the concerned authorities.She pointed out that the state put forward a draft of the "State Ownership Policy", which was approved in its final form.
This document explains to investors the role of the state in various sectors as a regulator of economic activity according to market mechanisms, and how the state can exit from activities in which the private sector will assume the largest role, such as various industries and infrastructure in its broadest sense.
This document contributes to providing a fertile and stimulating environment for investment and development, aims to increase domestic and foreign investments, and raises the efficiency and effectiveness of public investments.
She also referred to the launch of the national strategy for intellectual property, and the activation of the golden license contained in the investment law to ensure prompt dealings with investors as well as the speedy implementation of projects, as the state grants the golden license with one approval (from the Cabinet) to establish, operate and manage projects in a period not exceeding 20 working days.