{"id":688447,"date":"2026-03-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/?p=688447"},"modified":"2026-03-16T15:36:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:36:56","slug":"record-fdi-inflows-mask-stalling-productivity-and-job-growth-across-egypts-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2026\/03\/16\/record-fdi-inflows-mask-stalling-productivity-and-job-growth-across-egypts-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Record FDI inflows mask stalling productivity and job growth across Egypt\u2019s economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Egypt is attracting more <\/strong>FDI<\/strong> than ever, but it isn\u2019t buying us the <\/strong>productivity we need<\/strong>, according to the OECD\u2019s FDI Q<\/a>ualities Review of Egypt (pdf)<\/a> out earlier this month. While the headline figure looks good \u2014 USD 11 bn in inflows last year<\/a> \u2014 the quality of the growth is stalling. <\/p>\n

Why this matters: <\/strong>For every USD 1 bn of greenfield FDI coming our way, only 1.1k jobs are created. That is nearly half the OECD average of 2.1k and significantly below the regional average of 1.6k. <\/p>\n

Almost 80% of the greenfield FDI that came our way in the decade ending 2023 went <\/strong>toward construction and resource-based sectors<\/strong>, which are \u201ccapital-intensive sectors with high levels of productivity but limited prospects for innovation and knowledge diffusion.\u201d Meanwhile, a mere 0.2% went toward R&D, and only 5.5% of foreign firms operating here reported investing in R&D. <\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the capability gap, which the review blames on the \u201climited absorptive <\/strong>capacity of Egyptian firms.\u201d<\/strong> Foreign firms are 1.5x more productive than their domestic counterparts, which sometimes lack the \u201cnecessary capabilities to harness the technological spillovers that FDI can generate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The review lays out a handful of recommendations aimed at helping the country unlock <\/strong>the full potential of FDI. <\/strong>These include enhancing the link between SMEs and FDI so that SMEs are able to absorb the productivity spillover of foreign investment, setting up directories of SME suppliers, and matchmaking services to make it easier for foreign players to source inputs locally. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s next? <\/strong>The General Authority for Investment and Freezones and the World Bank are working to finalize the National FDI Strategy, which will \u201coutline clear policy priorities, target sectors, governance arrangements, and a comprehensive [monitoring and evaluation] framework based on international good practices.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For every USD 1 bn of greenfield FDI coming our way, only 1.1k jobs are created<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":688448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"small","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7272],"tags":[72,103,125],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-688447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investment-watch","tag-enterpriseam","tag-fdi","tag-investment-watch","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"6be45255-5ba3-4305-9c9a-0aba2568e99e","order":"7","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/3\/788.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Why Egypt\u2019s USD 11 bn in FDI isn\u2019t creating jobs","related_issue":[688435],"teaser":"For every USD 1 bn of greenfield FDI coming our way, only 1.1k jobs are created","photo_link":"","related_sponsor":"","voice_url":"","en_translation_ref_id":"","section_story_id":""},"yoast_head":"\nRecord FDI inflows mask stalling productivity and job growth across Egypt\u2019s economy - EnterpriseAM Egypt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2026\/03\/16\/record-fdi-inflows-mask-stalling-productivity-and-job-growth-across-egypts-economy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Record FDI inflows mask stalling productivity and job growth across Egypt\u2019s economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For every USD 1 bn 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