EGYPT Trends and Developments Contributed by: Mohamed Hashish, Farida Rezk, Omar Aboul-Ella and Mariam Rabie, Soliman, Hashish & Partners
Over the past few years, the Egyptian govern - ment has been significantly improving the busi - ness environment in the country, which has resulted in various changes to the legal frame - work governing the establishment and operation of businesses in Egypt. Egypt has attracted more foreign direct investment (FDI) across multiple industries, predominantly within the financial services, technology and infrastructure sectors. Furthermore, Egypt ranked third in the top 17 African Tech Ecosystems of the Future for the year 2021/2022, according to the fDi Report 2021 African Tech Ecosystems of the Future 2021/2022. Egypt was also recognised as one of the top five destinations globally for greenfield FDI in 2016, with Cairo ranked among the top 10 cities hosting start-ups in 2016. Egypt is also the top-ranked MENA country in terms of capi - tal investment in 2020, acquiring 12% capital investment with a total value of USD13.7 billion, where financial services were among the top five sectors in 2019. Despite international and local crises faced by the country over the years (including revolu - tions, COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war, infla - tion, foreign currency shortages and the threat of a potential recession), Egypt has continued to improve the legal environment to attract foreign investors and regulate certain activities under According to Investment Law No 72 of 2017 (“Investment Law”) and Prime Minister’s Decree No 56 of 2022, companies seeking to estab - lish strategic or national projects that contrib - ute to the development of partnership projects between the private sector and the state, the public sector, or the public business sector in the areas of public utilities and infrastructure, the current climate. Investment in Egypt
new or renewable energy, or roads, transporta - tion, or ports, have the opportunity to apply for a single licence for the establishment, operation, and management of the project (the ”Golden Licence”). Such Golden Licence shall be suffi - cient for the operation of an investment project with no need to apply for any further licences or approvals. The Golden Licence Committee at the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) shall be responsible for the co-ordination with all the relevant governmen - tal authorities in Egypt in order to obtain all the licences and approvals required by law for the establishment of the investment project. According to Decree No 56 of 2022, the Golden Licence shall be granted by a decision of the Prime Minister for investment projects that sat - isfy at least two of the following required condi - tions: • The investment project shall contribute to the growth of exports through exporting no less than 50% of its products abroad annually, within three years from the commencement of its activity. • The investment project shall aim to reduce imports, promote industrial domestication, including increasing the proportion of locally sourced components in its products, provid - ed that the percentage of local components in its products, including raw materials and production requirements, constitutes at least 50%, and further provided that the aforemen - tioned percentage be calculated by subtract - ing the value of the imported components from the product cost. • The financing of the investment project shall be primarily dependent on the foreign cur - rency transferred from abroad through any bank registered with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
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