Egypt set for most keenly awaited business gathering since the start of the Arab Spring

Global business leaders will fly to Egypt next week for the country’s most keenly awaited business gathering since the start of the Arab Spring.

The conference, named Egypt The Future, will be the platform for the Arab world’s most populous country to set out its investment vision before an audience comprised of some of the world’s most powerful business leaders.

They include GE’s Jeffrey Immelt and BP’s Bob Dudley among dozens of regional business chiefs.

“It’s a milestone,” said Simon Kitchen, a Cairo-based strategist at the Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes. “It is an opportunity for them to showcase what they’ve done in terms of reform, and what they are going to do in the future.”

The conference comes as Egypt’s cabinet this week approved a much-anticipated draft investment law aimed at slashing red tape and convincing would-be investors that now is the right time to invest in the country.

The investment minister Ashraf Salman said in January that the new law would be essential to woo foreign investors, who currently need permits from as many as 78 government agencies to start a company in a marathon effort that can take years to complete.

“What they need is annually to attract large amounts of private-sector investment, and this is an opportunity for them to showcase what they have done and some big projects will be announced,” Mr Kitchen said.

It comes at a crucial time for an economy in fragile recovery mode. It is expected to grow by about 3.8 per cent this year, helped by billions of dollars in financial aid from Arabian Gulf states including the UAE.

The conference is key in helping to secure the estimated $60 billion needed in foreign direct investment over the next four years.

Egypt’s purchasing managers index (PMI), a key measure of economic activity, dropped below the 50-mark in February, the weakest since September 2013 when the fallout from the so called “second revolution” hit output.

Still, analysts and economists are bullish about the country’s long term prospects as other moves in recent months by the government, such as devaluing the currency to stamp out the black market in US dollars, have inspired more investor confidence.

While most foreign investors are waiting on the sidelines, local investors helped propel the country’s benchmark index into the ranks of the top performing global measures last year as the fortunes of the biggest listed companies and lenders such as Commercial International Bank improved.

Since being elected in May, the president, Abdel Fattah El Sisi, has started to take steps to reduce state expenditure by cutting energy subsidies – huge discounts on petroleum products that have weighed down the government’s finances for decades.

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