The second session of the Hapi Investment Conference discussed the restructuring of state agencies.
Youssef Beshay, senior banker at BNP Paribas, said that investing in oil drilling depends on the price of oil and the magnitude of petroleum discoveries.
Beshay pointed out that new laws will have a positive effect in the long run, noting that real reform based on detailed studies is needed to the most efficient workers because of the difficulty of the business climate.
He elaborated that the new discoveries such as the Zohr, Atoll, and North Delta gas fields are incentives to launch more business.
He believes that real reform is participating in boosting more foreign direct investment, demanding raising the maximum wages of employees to attract more efficient people from outside administrative governmental bodies.
He added that most investments in Egypt are short term and seek high revenues.
Allianz Insurance’s Managing Director Mohamed Mahran said that his company represents the biggest insurance company in the world with revenues of €14bn and a profit of €4bn in 2017.
Mahran pointed out that last year, property insurance amounted to EGP 13bn with a growth of 41%, which, even if converted to dollars, will be a 30% drop after the flotation. However, there are great positive changes in general, he said, adding that there is a positive outlook for the Egyptian market.
For his part, Khaled Bichara, CEO of Orascom Development Holding (ODH), said that 20% of property buyers since 2002 are foreigners, but the political conditions following the 25 January 2011 revolution negatively affected the export of property.
Bichara noted that half of exported property is currently sold to Egyptians abroad after the floating of the pound and many Egyptian companies have foreign marketing offices.
He pointed out that regulation among government agencies is weak, as public sector employees cannot breach the law and bear the accountability for such actions, but he said this leads to missed, great investment opportunities for the state.
He explained that the river taxi project is one of the projects that did not receive an operating license from the Cairo Governorate since more than three years.
