Egypt's floating pound already a success, billionaire Sawiris says

Egypt's decision to float its currency can already be declared a success, but it will take time for investment flows to return and revive its battered economy, the Egyptian construction tycoon Samih Sawiris said.

The central bank floated the Egyptian pound EGP1= in November to attract foreign capital, and the pound consequently weakened from 8.8 pounds to the U.S. dollar to roughly 20 pounds in December.

"Now the investment appetite has become bigger ... people will start looking at the various opportunities given to them," Sawiris said.

Egypt needs investment from people like Sawiris, a billionaire who could commit millions and help to mobilise foreign investors. However, he'll be careful about putting up his own money.

"We should not be over-enthusiastic or over-emotional ... ", he said. "You don't realise that there is a proper economy and ways to measure it in the morning and start investing in the afternoon."

A member of Egypt's richest family, Sawiris is chairman of Orascom Development Holding, which operates tourist resorts and real estate projects in Egypt and Europe.

Orascom Development is dual-listed on the Swiss (ODHN.S) and Egyptian (ORHD.CA) stock exchanges. It operates a total of 35 hotels with over 8,000 rooms and controls land of around 100 million square metres, the vast majority of which is unused.

But more than six years of political turmoil since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 have scared off investors and tourists. A major blow came in 2015 when Islamic State brought down a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board.