New law to allow firms register within hours in Egypt

CAIRO / Reuters

Egypt is hoping that long-awaited regulations approved to its new investment code will draw in fresh and needed cash from abroad as the country pushes ahead with reforms. Investment Minister Sahar Nasr told Reuters in an interview that the law could now be
active within days.
“Establishing (a company) will literally now take hours. It used to take months. This is massive,” she said. The government has been on a drive to reform the economy and lure back foreign investors that fled after the 2011 uprising. It signed a $12 billion three-year loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund last November tied to austerity measures such as slashing subsidies and raising taxes.
The new investment law includes a raft of incentives, from tax breaks and rebates on projects established in underdeveloped areas to government
support for connecting utilities.
Nasr said the new law would be active once it passes through the Council of State, an administrative judicial body that provides a final legal review. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ratified the more general law in June but the regulations spell out who is eligible for incentives and how they work. Egypt netted about $8.7 billion in foreign direct investment in the 2016-17 fiscal year that ended in June and the government hopes to push this to over $10 billion this year.
Nasr said the law had already piqued foreign interest. “You look at the months since the president has ratified the law and there are companies that have been asking their legal
advisers about it,” she said.
She named French cosmetics group L’Oreal, cosmetics brand Nivea, owned by Germany’s Beiersdorf Global AG , and US candymaker Mars Inc as expressing strong interest to invest. As part of the law, a new investment services centre will be operational starting next month that allows investors to legally establish companies online and make payments, said Nasr.