house 
Economics, politics and organization
Global Finance: Is there strong interest from the Egyptian private sector to be part of the Saudi transformation?
Hossam Haiba: Yes. According to the Saudi authorities, Egyptian investors are now the number one investors in Saudi Arabia with approximately 20 billion US dollars. We push Egyptian companies to expand regionally and internationally. At the same time, we encourage foreign direct investment within Egypt.
gf: How is the business environment changing in Egypt? And what would you say to investors who might have been a little scared before?
prestige: In 2016, the Egyptian government embarked on a major economic reform program – not only changing economic policies, but also making a paradigm shift in investment philosophy. From a monetary perspective, Egypt has traditionally focused on stabilizing foreign currency and protecting the Egyptian pound. Since March 2024, we have focused on the inflationary impact, and currency pricing is determined according to market dynamics, and so far it has proven very successful. Foreign currencies are available in the banking sector, there is a unified pricing for the Egyptian pound, and investment and commercial activities are running very smoothly.
The second challenge we faced was fiscal policy – the tax system and the customs matrix. The goal is to have a clear, transparent and easy system of taxation, while at the same time ensuring the flow of goods and services to be imported and exported. We are working to simplify, digitize and reduce all unnecessary documents. To improve the business environment, we at the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones are working to digitize all our processes and have goals to reduce permit and license approval processes. Approvals granted to foreigners must not exceed 10 working days, company incorporation 48 hours, and licenses and land allocations 20 working days.
gf: There is a lot of talk about privatization in Egypt and IPOs. What can we expect?
prestige: The main goal, or philosophy, is to involve the private sector in activities such as logistics, tourism, petrochemicals and telecommunications companies. For example, we increased the outstanding shares in Telecom Egypt by an additional 10%. We have also partnered with the private sector to upgrade six of our historic hotels, and there are a range of projects being fed through with different companies. There will be more public-private partnerships on projects such as water treatment, desalination, waste management and renewable energies. Once the company is ready to sell partially or completely to the investor, we do not hesitate, we truly move forward. We are currently working on several companies, including banks, that will be sold to strategic partners or listed on the stock exchange through IPOs. The purpose of this is to strengthen and develop the stock exchange as well as allow the private sector to participate in the banking sector in Egypt.
gf: What kind of partnerships are you looking forward to in the banking sector?
prestige: We are currently selling a minority stake in Bank of Alexandria to an Italian bank and are preparing a platform to sell United Bank as an IPO. For Banque du Caire, we have many offers for a strategic partnership.
gf: Is there a specific type of experience you are trying to bring with foreign investment?
prestige: I think foreign expertise is certainly welcome to modernize and strengthen our banking system, but it also works in reverse. I mean that international banks are looking to enter the Egyptian market, to benefit from our current expertise in the Middle East, Gulf and Africa.
