High time to invest in Egypt

Since 2011, Egypt has been facing great challenges that ranged from irregular loss of electricity, failure to commit to our obligations to international Oil companies, to an annual brain drain and bleeding of foreign currency. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi took over the country inheriting its long rooted troubles and burdens that have accumulated over years even prior to 2011.  He was intent on addressing the multitude of long rooted troubles with prompt and long term solutions.

In our battle against terrorism, that started 3 years ago Egypt was facing over a thousand cases of terrorist attacks that gradually declined as a result of draining their funding resources and strict confrontation resulting hence in diminishing their capabilities. “SINAI 2018” campaign aims to wipe out the remains of terrorist groups.  Such a move towards securing Egypt and its boarders have expanded beyond our boarders to cooperation with neighbouring countries and allies aiming for peace within the whole region and not only Egypt.

In our battle for development, Egypt launched a long term plan for developing new cities along with thousands of new roads and networks in order to build valid, reliable and modern infrastructure that can serve a large pool of potential investors . The country further headed on a long term parallel plan targeting economic reform and restructuring. A plan international media mocked as irrelevant to the current challenges of Egypt, yet has proved to pave the way for Egypt’s future ambitious development plans.

After the break-through of the Oil and Gas discoveries in Egypt over the past 3-4 years, one that will in time save us -up to around US$250,000 monthly of Oil imports by 2019, Egypt is undergoing a transformation that  is targeting becoming a regional trade hub for Oil and Gas.

At the Egypt Petroleum Conference EGYPS, held in Cairo from 12-14 February, Egypt sought to clarify how it is stepping up its drive to land energy investments in the Gulf of Suez, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla said. The minister announced an agreement with an international company to conduct a seismic survey of the Gulf of Suez to attract exploration investment in the area.  He added that Egypt is developing a new online database in cooperation with oil and gas majors to log geological and seismic data on Egypt in a bid to promote Egypt’s fields to foreign investments.

On the other hand, British Petroleum (BP) announced its intention to invest over $1 billion in Egypt in 2018, making the country once again a top destination for investment.  BP’s CEO Bob Dudley said on Monday at EGYPS that the company was no longer owed any money by the Egyptian government. “The government owes us no money,” he said on the sidelines of the conference.

Such a major leap done over the past four years marks Egypt’s readiness to provide the energy resources for investors willing to seriously invest in the market, and showcases Egypt ‘potentials to become a promising hub for industry specialists , thanks to its geographical unique position.

IMF Managing Director ; Christine Lagarde singled out Egypt in her praise of the “courage” Arab countries have shown in implementing economic reforms, according to CNBC “If we look at Egypt, which has gone through a really tough time, and where the Egyptian people, and their leader  have shown courage. We have seen a growth of more than 5 percent,” said Lagarde at the World Government Summit in Dubai. “When you see inflation going down, when you see [capital] coming back into the country, investors looking at Egypt as a good risk in which to set up new companies and create jobs, that’s the response,” she said. Egypt’s economic reform and restructuring since floatation of the Egyptian pound has yielded its returns at a pace and speed that has been acknowledged by international agencies and local think tanks, backed by an amendment to the laws related to investment, bankruptcy and other legislations thus creating a unique business environment for local, regional and international investors.

Egypt is further more blessed with a large pool of young people that are available at competitive rates, the egyptian population remains a market not only for end products as the largest population in the region, but also as a labor market with various abilities and levels of education that guarantee a competitive resource in the cost equation.

Finally, Egypt remains a virgin land, with vast potentials in mining, trade, agriculture, industry, tourism, education, health and other sectors, a market that is currently ready with natural resources, labor, energy and legislations.  It is ripe for serious investors willing not only to join in the development and progress of Egypt but to yield the returns of a fruitful investment in a growing economy that is aiming for above 5% growth in 2018.