Competitiveness and Private Sector Development: Egypt 2010

As part of a far-reaching programme of economic reforms, the Egyptian
government is seeking to improve its business climate to attract more
investment and stimulate growth and job creation. The Egyptian Ministry of
Investment has asked the OECD to carry out an in-depth assessment of Egypt’s
business climate to identify policy priorities and actions needed to foster
more domestic, regional and international investment. This report presents the
results of that assessment. It also highlights Egypt’s key reform priorities
and describes the challenges and opportunities in improving Egypt's business
climate to help Egypt realise its full potential as a high-growth economy.

The OECD assessment is the first phase of a Business Climate Development
Strategy (BCDS) which identifies policy priorities and proposes specific
reforms and actions to enable Egypt to achieve measurable improvements in its
business climate. One key finding is that Egypt’s investment and trade policy
reforms have moved the country’s business climate closer to best practice in
OECD economies. However, the report notes that to attract further private
investment, Egypt needs to improve the country’s anti-corruption measures,
skills development, infrastructure and access to finance, especially for the
country's small-and-medium sized enterprises. BCDS Egypt offers specific
recommendations on how policies, institutions and regulations can be improved
to increase predictability for investors and make Egypt a prime investment
destination.

This review was carried out as part of the wider MENA-OECD Investment
Programme. It uses a new BCDS methodology that evaluates the business climate
in 12 policy areas and draws on core OECD instruments, such as the Policy
Framework for Investment (PFI), which have been successfully applied in other
countries. By helping countries prioritise their actions and build consensus
among stakeholders, the BCDS process supports the successful implementation of
reforms to develop the private sector in the MENA region.