Egypt set to make foreign investment easier

Egypt expects resistance to a new unified investment law designed to tackle stifling bureaucracy but hopes to implement it in March nevertheless, the investment minister told Reuters on Sunday.

Ashraf Salman said the law was critical to winning the confidence of foreign investors who currently must secure permits from 78 government agencies to start a company in Egypt, a process that can up to five years.

The idea is to create a one-stop shop that will make life easier for foreign investors also discouraged by political turmoil and militant violence which have weakened the economy since a popular uprising toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.