Sep 11, 2015 The Euromoney Egypt Conference recently held in Cairo. The two day event, which was tagged “Financing the Future”, was the 20th installment of the annual financial summit. According to the conference’s website, the two day event focused on the role of investors in the country’s financial future.
Speaking at the event’s opening, Egypt’s Investment Minister, Ashraf Salman expressed optimism over the investment opportunities in the country.
“This conference came in the framework of a number of conferences with the purpose of promoting the Egyptian story to local and international and regional investors. I think the hall is full and there is momentum today at the Euromoney. The Egyptian story is starting to make noise in the whole world, not just when it comes to its economic reform, but also in terms of international relations and when it comes to commitment to reform and taking the difficult way not the easy way to reform,” he said.
While addressing delegates at the conference, Egypt’s Finance Minister, Hany Kadry spoke on the country’s efforts with regards to reducing its debt.
“If you take out the grants that Egypt has received in 2013-2014 and 14-15, you will find a net fiscal consolidation effort of 4 percentage point of GDP. That is unprecedented in the history of Egypt,”
The finance minister went on to say that Egypt will return to the international bond market in the first half of 2016.
Following the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, foreign investors withdrew their investments from the country en masse. However, there has been immense economic growth and state finances have strengthened since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took office last year.