Egypt: Foreign direct investment down 15.7%

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Egypt decreased by 15.7 per cent during the first quarter of the current financial year, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) reported yesterday.

According to a report issued by the CBE, the net FDI amounted to $1.578 billion during the first quarter of the current financial year, registering a decline of $294 million.

The Egyptian financial year begins in early July and lasts until the end of June of the following year, according to the country’s General Budget Law.

Egypt’s FDI stood at $1.872 billion during the first quarter of the last financial year.

Read: The destruction of the Egyptian economy

The European Union (EU) countries are the biggest investors in Egypt, with investments amounting to $1.725 billion, while the Arab countries comes second, with $478.8 million worth of investments. The rest of the countries’ investments amounted to $313.6 million during the first quarter of the current financial year, according to the CBE report.

Egypt’s FDI reached $7.9 billion during the financial year 2016-17, compared to $6.9 billion in the year before.

Late last month, foreign investments in the CBE’s treasury bills reached $19.8 billion, compared to none before the Egyptian pound floatation.

On 3 November 2016, Egypt decided to liberalise the exchange rate for the Egyptian pound against foreign currencies, in a step to revive the struggling economy and to eliminate the black market.