A copy of what appear to be the executive regulations to the Investment Act has leaked. The regs — on which the Ismail Cabinet signed off last week — list industries and projects eligible for incentives including tax and customs breaks under the government’s investment-promotion framework. Among the highlights include:
- An investment must export 50% of its output to qualify to certain incentives;
- A company’s corporate social responsibility agenda will be a component of whether it qualifies for incentives;
- Foreign labor cannot exceed 10% of the total workforce unless an assessment committee deems a situation exceptional enough to require raising the cap to 20%;
- Foreign workers and investors are guaranteed the rights to repatriate profits and earnings;
- Special incentive areas, such as the Suez Canal Axis and Golden Triangle area, will be outlined in the government’s upcoming investment map of 600 or so projects, which should be issued in December and updated on a regular basis.
The regs also outline the rules for the development and management of private freezones, as well as investment and tech zones. Under the new regs, the General Authority for Freezones and Investment (GAFI) will form a technical committee to oversee the establishment and administration of private freezones and projects they house. To remind you all, companies operating in private freezones must have a capital no less than USD 10 mn, employ at least 500 workers, export at least 80% of output, and source at least 30% of production inputs locally.
The regulations will come into effect once published in the Official Gazette. Click or tap here for a refresher on the regs, or view the full leaked copy here courtesy of Al Masry Al Youm.
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Egypt seals USD 635 mn funding agreement with IFC for Benban solar power complex: Investment Minister Sahar Nasr signed a USD 653 mn debt package agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to fund the development of 13 solar power plants at the Benban complex, according to an official statement. The plants will add a combined 590 MW to the 1.8 GW complex, which is set to become the world’s largest grid-connected solar power park. Constructed under phase two of the feed-in tariff program, the projects are the IFC’s biggest investment in Egypt to date, according to IFC’s Vice President of New Business Dimitris Tsitsiragos. We had noted yesterday that the IFC’s package is the latest in c. USD 1.8 bn in financing Egypt has received for the Benban complex, mainly through the IFC and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Zulficar & Partners advised the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company on the project agreements under the two rounds of the feed-in tariff program. Sharkawy & Sarhan law firm advised the IFC, EBRD, and Proparco on financing 30 solar power plant projects in Benban.
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Egypt signed three MoUs with the European Commission yesterday worth a combined EUR 600 mn, an Investment Ministry statement says. Under a EUR 432-528 mn agreement running from 2017-2022, Egypt will receive support for its economic reform agenda, for renewable energy and for social development projects. (This includes a EUR 38 mn grant from the EU and EUR 360 mn from the EBRD and EIB for sanitation projects in rural areas). Under the second MoU, Egypt will receive EUR 8 mn from the Commission, as well as EUR 237.7 mn from the EIB, to develop the Alexandria tramway.
Still no ‘Turkey-style’ migration agreement: The third and final MoU covered the stemming of illegal migration to Europe, for which Egypt will receive a EUR 60 mn grant. Although a step forward, the agreement lacks the depth and structure of theEU’s pact with Turkey on refugee management and assistance, despite calls from European Officials, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had said that a Turkey-style agreement with Egypt could help Europe “deal with the root causes of migration.” Egypt had also signed an MoU with Germany back in August on handling refugee flow.
The agreements were inked during EU Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn’s stop in Cairo yesterday.
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INVESTMENT WATCH- The Khamis family’s Orientals Urban Development plans to invest at least EGP 3 bn in projects based in new cities next year, Oriental Weavers founder Mohamed Farid Khamis tells Al Mal. Orientals Urban is also planning to begin working on the EGP 450 mn Side Walk Mall in New Cairo alongside real estate marketing firm B2B. Khamis also says the company has completed the first phase of its 5.5 mn sqm Oriental Coast project in Marsa Alam, and has begun work on its second phase.
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Banks should support new SMEs that do not have extensive credit or operational history, central bank Governor Tarek Amer said yesterday, according to Al Masry Al Youm. Amer also criticized the concentration in some of the banks’ lending portfolios, calling on them to diversify more. He added that he would like to see banks create more investment funds and introduce new products.
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EgyptAir flew to Tokyo from Cairo yesterday for the first time following a four-year suspension, Ahram Gate reports. The flight was originally intended to depart on Saturday but was postponed to Sunday due to bad weather conditions at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport. EgyptAir will run direct flights to Tokyo every Saturday and will consider additional trips if there is demand. This came as Marsa Alam received the first RyanAir flight out of Ukraine on Sunday, with 171 passengers on board. The flight will operate three times a week.
More air traffic with Egypt: China Southern Airlines said it would launch daily direct flights to Cairo out of Guangzhou early next year, without specifying a date, and Kuwait’s newly revived Wataniya airways will be also be flying daily to Cairo as of next summer.
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MOVES- Till Klauss was appointed hotel manager of the Four Seasons Hotel Alexandria at San Stefano, according to Trade Arabia. Klauss “will assist in uplifting the Alexandrian culinary scene in addition to elevating the guest experience, the hotel said in a statement.”
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EARNINGS WATCH- Cheesemaker Domty (Arabian Food Industries Company) reported a net profit of EGP 22 mn in 3Q2017, up from EGP 10 mn in 3Q2016. Revenues for the quarter recorded EGP 680 mn, up from EGP 453 mn in the same period last year, the company said in an earnings release (pdf).
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Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani would really like it if the Arab Quartet were to refrain from bombing, invading or otherwise doing anything that might interrupt his lunch plans. “Qatar’s emir has warned against any military confrontation over the ongoing diplomatic dispute between his country and four other Arab nations, saying it would only plunge the region into chaos,” the Associated Press quotes Al Thani as saying. He says US President Donald Trump has offered to host a meeting between Qatar and Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE to resolve the dispute. Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa called for Qatar’s GCC membership to be frozen in a tweet on Sunday adding that Bahrain would not sit in or attend any summits where Qatar participates.
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Thousands gathered yesterday in Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital, in support of Spanish unity, Bloomberg reports. The demonstrations came as the Catalan government “dismissed Madrid’s direct administrative control” of Catalonia to reaffirm the region’s independence despite Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolving the Catalan government 48 hours earlier. “The real test of strength for the two sides will come when schools and government offices open Monday, and teachers and civil servants decide whether to follow the ousted Catalan leaders’ call to resist their Spanish masters or acquiesce to the new reality,” the news service says.
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Another small win for Saudi women: Nearly a monthafter the kingdom said it would grant (one day) women the right to drive, the Saudi crown has decided to lift a ban that had prohibited women from entering stadiums and attending public sporting events,Al Arabiya reports. Three stadiums — one each in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam — will open to women in early 2018.
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