The law offers protections, identifies new incentives and enforces existing ones, provides new channels for dispute resolving and implements procedural reform, all conducive to a modern familiar business environment. It cuts red tape and streamlines procedures for doing business, to foster transparency and to ensure a level playing field.
Key achievements gained from reforms within Egypt’s new Investment Law are:
Access to Finance – By establishing a strong foundation for the growth and development of the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector through enhancing financial inclusion.
Ease of Starting a Business – By giving investors multiple options to process their paperwork for registration and licensing approvals. Recent administrative reform simplifies investment procedures for investors and significantly reduces the time needed for issuing investment licenses, procuring land, and obtaining utilities services. These options are:
- The Single Window system at the General Authority for Investment (GAFI). Through decentralization and having representatives from the numerous relevant authorities at the Investor Services Centers and empowering them to sign off on investor documentations, the Single Window will be effectively activated within the new law.
- Certified offices deployed across the country. For the first time, private-sector third parties will assist the government and will be in charge of screening investors’ applications and documents for licensing approvals through these independent certified offices.
Investor Protection – By providing mechanics to guarantee against nationalization, decisions that are found arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion. It activates guarantees and protections through a number of committees such as the Ministerial Committee for Dispute Resolving, which convenes today twice a month compared to once every 2 months when it was first established in 2016. It also obliges the respective authorities to execute decisions taken by it within 15 days.
A Competitive Landscape – By enhancing competitiveness, avoiding monopolization, promoting governance and transparency and most importantly setting clear timelines for approval processes. Egypt’s Investment Law is a revolutionary step towards cutting red tape and reducing bureaucracy.
Governance – By clarifying strict governance rules for GAFI and outlining the roles and authorities of the Supreme Council for Investment, which is in charge of setting the investment policies and strategies in accordance with Egypt’s socio-economic goals.
Equal Opportunity & Job Creation – Instead of driving economic sectors through general incentives, the new law drives social inclusion of marginalized segments of the country, maximizes employment opportunities and reduces monopolization by large-size businesses through a set of economic incentives specifically targeting a) lagging regions (low income geographies), b) labor-intensive industries and c) SMEs. It also drives specific sectors that serve the economic cluster formation in various regions in the country, some of these sectors are:
- Industries powered by renewable energy
- Mega projects
- Electricity generation and distribution projects
- Export-driven businesses
- Car manufacturing
- Agri-processing
For more information about Egypt’s investment law click here.
