The Egyptian economy is capable of reaching development

CEO of Banque du Caire Munir Al Zahed:

The Egyptian economy is capable of sustaining itself and reaching new levels of development; Arab support is a primary example of this. Banks are playing a major role in attracting foreign investments to Egypt in the upcoming period.

The CEO of Banque du Caire, Munir AlZahed, presented the government a set of short term and long term demands that would boost investment; this was appliedthrough presenting the government national projects that would be implemented in different fields; these projects would be promoted by respective field experts abroad in order to increase foreign investment. In addition, a law on the partnership projects between public and private sectors would be released; this law would focus on local, regional and international cooperation in the fields of education, health, energy and transportation.

In his interview with Amwal Al Ghad, Al Zahed urges the government to finalize all settlements related to real estate investors in order to re-boost confidence in this strategic sector that closely works with over than100 industries. Furthermore, the government should also promote excessively for the tourism industry that have been affected gravely in the past period. The tourism industry has been a key player in the Egyptian economy because of its ability to increase the country’s dollar resources, which in return reflects positively on the cash reserves.

He adds that no one could deny the effect of the political unrest and security issues that followed the 25th of January Revolution until the 30th of June Revolution on the economy. Currently, the stabilization of the political and safety issues has been a main focus of the government; this is apparent in the gradual improvement seen in the political as well as the economic scene and the effective repositioning of the state that has been taking place during the past period. In addition to the government’s focus on political issues, it has also been working on creating a short term and long term economic plans and goals that would improve the country’s economy in a short period of time.

Al Zahed also claims that the government’s efforts in attracting foreign investment are proving to be successful. The government is currently working on promoting for investments as well as removing restrictions on it.

The state’s budget deficit, which reached nearly 240 billion pounds, is a major obstacle because it hinders the government’s ability to create infrastructure projects that are supposed to be a priority in the upcoming years. Therefore, the government should work on cooperating with the private sector companies to create these projects with the condition of the availability of the funding for the government to spend on these projects. This will manage to save around 25% from the state’s budget.

The major industries that the government should be focusing on are the roads, renewable energy, education, healthcare and agriculture. The Ministry of Commerce should create an investment manual with the projects for foreign investors who are interested in investing in the Egyptian market. This would be a good promotional tool for the projects that currently need investments.

He adds that the role of the banks does not stop at the funding but it is also a considered to be a partner for a short-term period in order to help the Egyptian economy gain the trust of investors. According to the Central Bank, banks can contribute with only 40%, which gives the space for other banks to own shares of projects. Al Zahed considers this to be a good indicator for national and foreign investors.

He states that the investor is always looking for a safe investment environment that would provide him with legal support. There should be a strong legal system that safeguards the investors’ rights as well as guarantee the ability of make profit. It should also protect the investor from protests and strikes that would affect his production. Egypt has several issues that need to be addressed and solved before attracting investors; solving these issues would create a good environment for investors through entry and exit scenarios that would protect the investor.

He asserts that the state should commit to its contracts with investors regardless of what the state goes through as well as changing the policies of old regime that would ensure that old mistakes would not be repeated. The increase in production is considered to be a major step in achieving real development that would offset the problems witnessed by several industries during the past two years and a half.

He assured that the Gulf support to Egypt sends a strong and positive message to investors and other nations. This has been the case especially after announcing that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have given Egypt a combined 12 billion dollars in the form of monetary support as well as hydrocarbons.

Al Zahed considers hosting the EuroMoney in Egypt this year a positive sign to the world that should assure them that the Egyptian economy is a promising market. The EuroMoney has a strong network around the world and is able to attract investors; Al Zahed believes that there hosting the EuroMoney is a good platform for investors, in cooperation with the government, to know about the industries that are looking for investments.