Egypt needs to attract FDI in labour-intensive industries: Euroclear

Egypt needs to attract more direct foreign investments in labour intensive industries, said senior official at Euroclear bank on Monday.

FDI in Egypt has been mostly in energy, which is a capital intensive industry, said Sudip Chatterjee – head of global capital markets at Euroclear – at a business conference in Cairo.

“The challenge is that Egypt needs (FDI in) industries that are labour intensive, for example tourism,” Chatterjee said.

Tourism contributes to the provision of thousands of job opportunities whether for individuals or for small and medium-sized enterprises, he added.

There are around 10 million tourists visiting Egypt every year, a figure that is very minimal to what the country has of very attractive tourism destinations, Chatterjee said.

To attract more foreign investments to the market, Chatterjee called Egyptian authorities to have to improve the taxation system by defining clear rules.