Egypt’s Economic & Political Update

Monthly Report October 2017

Monthly Report – October 2017

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FOREIGN POLICY & TRADE

§ During his Paris visit, President El-Sisi met with his counterpart to discuss issues ranging from counter-terrorism to trade. The latest arms deal between both nations is set to be worth EUR5.2 bn and includes 24 Rafale fighter jets.

§ El-Sisi met with the French business community as well to present the current economic reform program.

§ Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry headed to Slovenia to discuss possible investment opportunities with the Slovenian president and prime minister.

§ The Ministry of Trade’s investment map is finally ready. It provides an overview for interested investors and lists the requirements and specifications of the available industrial projects. (Special Focus*)

§ Egyptian Ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, Sami Mourad, is set to travel to Gaza to continue meeting with different Palestinian factions and track the reconciliation process.

§ The International Fund for Agricultural Development held a special session to evaluate the progress of its projects in Egypt.

§ Hesham Arafat, Minister of Transportation, met with the Italian Ambassador to explore possible cooperation in the transportation industry. The Minister highlighted Egypt’s recent efforts in revamping the sector, specifically the railway system

§ German Ambassador Julius Georg Luy stated trade between Germany and Egypt has reached EUR 16 bn since 2016 across all sectors. He highlighted that the current number of German tourists coming to Egypt is close to 615000, further confirming that it is now a safe travel destination.

PUBLIC POLICY & REGULATIONS

§ The Natural Gas Act’s Executive Regulations is in the process of being approved by the Cabinet. The law is meant to encourage investments, diversify supply sources, introduce competition in the gas market and balance interests of stakeholders.

§ Health Minister Ahmed Rady has agreed to cancel the box system, which governed the registration and trademarking process of pharmaceuticals. The market shortage is expected to be alleviated within six months.

§ Health Minister Ahmed Rady hinted that a similar piece of legislation aiming at to control prices by imposing caps on private hospitals and clinics might shortly follow in the health sector.

§ The Parliament’s Health Committee is currently drafting two laws on medical liability as well as the practice of speech therapy.

§ Concurrently, the new Health Insurance Law has been finally approved by the Cabinet.

§ The Minister of Supply’s, Aly Moselhy, pricing decree requiring all food manufacturers to print the price on their packaging has finally been published in the official gazette. This new decree allows food producers to continue to sell unlabeled products until the 31st of December, 2017

§ The Parliament’s Economic Committee is set to complete the draft of the new Consumer Protection Law within the next 14 days.

§ The Unified Building Law is now currently in the Housing Committee of the Parliament.

§ The Executive Regulations of the new Investment Law have finally been released.

STAKEHOLDERS UPDATE

Hamed El Etreby، the former Office Manager of the Minister of Trade & Industry, has been appointed as a member of the Egyptian Delegation in the Union for Mediterranean Organization. This decision is effective as of December 2017.

Ambassador Basaam Rady has been appointed as the new spokesperson by the Egyptian presidency.

Rady’s predecessor Alaa Youssef will now commence his new post as a permanent representative of Egypt to the United Nations.

Lieutenant General Mohamed Farid Hegazy appointed as the Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff.

His predecessor Mahmoud Hegazy will take on the position of the presidential advisor on strategic planning and crisis management.

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OTHER MONITORED ISSUES

§ The African Development Bank delegation arrived in Cairo to discuss the upcoming last tranche (worth USD 500 mn) of the USD 1.5 bn agreement it has with Egypt. Egypt is set to receive said tranche near the end of 2017.

§ Egypt and Russia are reportedly close to finalizing the Dabaa nuclear power plant deal before the year’s end.

§ The Ministry of Investment’s long-awaited investment map is set to be ready by the end of the year. Investors will reportedly be able to view the maps and place bids directly on the website.

§ The Parliament’s Transportation Committee is reviewing a possible deal between GE and Egyptian National Railway woth USD 575 mn for 100 new locomotives. This is part of an initiative explorting the possibility of allowing the private sector to contribute to the process of revamping and updating the railway system.

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Headline Inflation Core Inflation

Source: Central Bank of Egypt

INFLATION

SPECIAL FOCUS * Ministry of Trade’s Investment Map Overview in Numbers

4136 investment opportunity 8 industrial sectors 1265 in Electrical, Electronic & Engineering Industries 861 in Essential Chemicals & Products 649 in Foods, Beverages & Tobacco 605 in Spinning, Weaving & Ready-Made Garments 395 in Mining & Mines & Quarries 183 in Pharmaceutical 122 in Essential Minerals 56 in Leather Total Investment Value: EGP 6,014.84 Billion

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16.445 17.546 19.59

24.37

28.5 31.31

36.53

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40 2016 2017

USD bn.

39.56%

Source: Central Bank of Egypt NET INTERNATIONAL RESERVES

Egypt’sforeignreservesregistered$36.703billionattheendofOctober2017,

withacontinuedincrease,accordingtotheCentralBankofEgypt.Accordingto

anofficialstatement,foreigndebtforFY2016-2017hasreached$79billion.

TheEgyptiangovernmentestimatesthatforeigndebtwillriseto$102.4billion

byFY2020-2021.

Growth rate since January 2017

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TOURISM

PresidentAbdel-FattahelSisiannouncedduringhisvisittoParisthat2019wouldbetheyearofEgyptian-FrenchTourism&Culture.Thiscollaborativeinitiativeisset

torestoreEgypt’spositionasafavorabledestinationfortheFrenchandre-visitbothnations’culturalties.

TheMinistryofTourismispreparingforitsparticipationintheIBTMWorldBarcelonaExhibition,aninternationaltourismeventbeingheldattheendofNovember.

EgypthasbeenworkingwiththeadvertisingagencyJ.WalterThomspon(JWT)since2015inrevitalizingEgyptiantourismandparticipatinginlarge-scaleinternational

tourismevents.

Earlier thismonth,PharosUniversity inAlexandriahadorganized itsown four-day international conferencewith theparticipationof28countries topromote the

hospitalityindustryinEgypt.TheMinisterofTourism,AntiquitiesandHigherEducationtookpartintheconference.

TheMinistryofTourismsignedaMOUwithitsItaliancounterparttoreviveEgyptasanattractivedestinationforItalians.TheMOUissettoberatifiedbytheendof

Octoberand,accordingtoMinisterYahiyaRashid,issetto‘increaseflowstoLuxor,Aswan,NilecruisesandSharmel-Sheikh’.

Suez Canal

Mohab Mamish, Head of Suez Canal Authority, stated that Egypt receives 100% of container transport between Asia and Europe and 24.5% of all container transport

worldwide. He had highlighted that the Suez Canal Authority has been recently working on close to 105 projects that are set to be completed within the next 3 years.

In the latest CAPMAS Report, the Suez Canal as well as the hospitality sector are said to have achieved the highest growth rate out of all economic sectors for Q4

FY2016/2017. The growth rate reached 154.3% and revenues reached EGP 23.9 bn.

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SMELaw

CustomsLaw

FoodSafetyLaw

BankruptcyLaw

HealthInsuranceLaw

LaborLaw

UnifiedBuildingLaw

LocalAdministrabonLaw

Bids&TendersLaw

ConsumerProtecbonLaw

GasLaw

Law Statuses

Early Drafting Phase

Mid Cabinet Approval Phase

Final Pending Parliament Discussion/Approval + Presidential ratification

Complete Ratified by the President

M