(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Egypt expects 100 per cent increase in foreign direct investment, or FDI, during the current fiscal year compared to last year, Investment Minister Ashraf Salman said on Monday at EFG Hermes conference in Dubai.
Last year, the country received $4 billion in FDI and it is expected to reach $8 billion in the current fiscal year through June, Salman said.
The minister said that Egypt has obtained $23 billion in aid from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait in the 18 months since former president Mohamed Mursi was ousted. The aid included oil shipments, cash grants and deposits in Egypt's central bank, he said.
The minister mentioned that the government was aiming to cut its budget deficit to 10 per cent of GDP in the current year from 15 per cent in the previous year. He said the government plans to launch a $1.5 billion sovereign bond issue by June - its first Eurobond issue after a five-year gap because of political and economic instability. And then another sovereign bond issue in September, he added but did not provide size of the second bond.
Currency devaluation
Salman said that the country had started to devalue the Egyptian pound in order to address the shortage of hard currency which is still making it difficult for foreign portfolio and industrial investors to repatriate profits.
"It's definitely a problem, not only for investors but foreign direct investors," the minister said, adding: "The foreign reserves of Egypt are now $15 billion, which cannot support the flows into and out of the country... we are addressing the issue by starting to devalue the Egyptian pound over the past three weeks," he added.
Egypt's stock market rebounded on Monday after bullish comments from government officials and executives and signs that the planned parliamentary election will go ahead soon. The main Cairo index jumped 1.4 per cent, largely because of EFG Hermes, which increased by 5.6 per cent.
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