Madbouly instructs cabinet to set up a working group to attract investment: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly ordered the creation of a working group comprised of officials from the investment, trade, and finance ministries to look into ways of raising foreign direct investment into Egypt, according to a cabinet statement.

What sectors does the government like? Oil and gas, steel, furniture making, fertilizers, tire manufacturing, food processing, cement, agriculture, and textiles, according to the announcement. This came during a cabinet meeting at which Trade Minister Amr Nassar said his ministry is working to attract investment from British companies.

Non-oil FDI badly needs a shot in the arm: Government figures earlier this month showed that FDI declined by almost USD 1 bn y-o-y in 1H2018-19 to USD 2.84 bn. Keep in mind, as Investment Minister Sahar Nasr told us, that this is still an improvement in our market share of total global investment — at least part of the problem is that FDI globally is contracting. But analysts add that Egypt is still feeling the effects of the EGP float. “It was somewhat unrealistic to expect FDI to recover immediately after the devaluation given the tough times the economy had to go through,” Mohamed Abu Basha, head of macro analysis at EFG Hermes, told us. Naeem Brokerage’s Allen Sandeep said that foreign investment into the non-oil sector may not see growth until 5-10 years after the economic reform program, highlighting the need for a concerted government effort to attract FDI into the wider economy.