Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks at the Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE each offered $4bn to Egypt, while Oman said it would give $500mn in grants and investment over the next five years.
Reuters/Sharm El-Sheikh
Gulf Arab allies pledged a further $12bn of investments and central bank deposits for Egypt at an international summit yesterday, a big boost to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as he tries to reform the economy after years of political upheaval.
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates each offered $4bn to Egypt, which is grappling with religious insurgents as it attempts to improve the investment climate four years after a popular uprising that touched off protracted turmoil.
The UAE said it would deposit $2bn of its pledge in the Egyptian central bank, while Saudi Arabia said $1bn of its pledge would go to the bank. Oman said it would give Egypt $500mn in grants and investment over the next five years.
Egypt hopes the conference will project an image of stability and improve investor confidence hit by the political upheaval touched off by the fall of veteran ruler Hosni Mubarak.
Cairo wants to double foreign investment in this fiscal year to $8bn, despite an insurgency in northern Sinai and frequent militant attacks across the country.
“I’m expecting here to see $15-$20bn in agreements signed,” Investment Minister Ashraf Salman told Reuters earlier, adding that the deals would cover power plants, real estate and agricultural projects.
General Electric said it would invest $200mn in a manufacturing and training facility which it sees as part of an economic hub being built near the Suez Canal.
It also said it had delivered 34 gas turbines to Egypt as part of a $1.9bn power project.
Egypt also expected to sign several memoranda of understanding at the conference, including one for the construction of a new administrative capital with a price-tag of about $40bn, Salman said. He gave no details.
The conference shaped up as an important test of Egypt’s reform agenda under Sisi, a former army chief who wants to remove investment barriers to help turn around the ailing economy of the Arab world’s most populous country.
Sisi’s crackdown on Islamists and secular opponents has drawn fire from human rights groups. But he has won praise from foreign investors by cutting fuel subsidies that imposed a heavy burden on the state and by implementing other reforms.
He told the conference that his vision for Egypt’s economy centred on improving state finances and encouraging private sector investment through legislative reforms and respecting contracts in order to achieve growth rates of 6% over five years and reduce unemployment to 10%.
The head of the International Finance Corp (IFC), a global development institution, said he was encouraged by Egypt’s reforms but called for further action.
“We are happy to see that progress but there is a lot more work that needs to be done. The sign is positive, we need to see more,” Jin-Yong Cai told Reuters at the conference.
He said Egypt’s regulations, and their implementation, needed to be improved as well.
On Thursday, Sisi ratified an amended investment law designed to create a one-stop shop for investors.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, in attendance with other top officials, pledged support for Egypt’s reform agenda.
“We will work with you to absolutely secure the ambitious and important goals that you have laid out here today. There is absolutely no question that the emergence of a strong, prosperous and democratic Egypt is critical for the development of a strong, prosperous region,” Kerry said.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, which backed the Sisi-led army overthrow of president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013 following mass unrest against his rule, have kept Egypt’s economy afloat since then with $23bn in oil shipments, cash grants and central bank deposits.
The government targets a budget deficit of 10% of gross domestic product by 2018/19, down from 15% last year. Unemployment, currently around 13%, is also a major challenge.
GDP is expected to grow by 4% in the fiscal year ending in June, up from 2.2% last year, officials say.
