A group of seven high-profile Egyptian businessmen living abroad have launched a jointly held investment company in partnership with the Ministry of Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates’ Affairs to incentivize expats to invest in the country and bring in much-needed foreign currency.
The venture looks to lure some 14 million Egyptian expats with high-return projects in the agricultural, health care, hospitality, industrials, real estate and tourism sectors.
The initiative aims to be a new source of foreign currency for Egypt, which is going through its worst economic crisis in more than half a century and is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund to increase its financial bailout. Suffering the effects of high inflation and an acute cost-of-living crisis, the North African country has devalued its currency three times since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with the Egyptian pound losing almost half of its value against the dollar.
In November, the Fitch ratings agency lowered Egypt’s credit score deeper into junk territory to B- despite a stable outlook. General government debt to gross domestic product jumped to around 95% in the 2023 financial year compared to 87% the previous year, mostly due to the weaker currency, Fitch reported.
