Egypt has increased its share of global foreign direct investments, reports Sahar El-Bahr Figures presented by the World Investment Report (WIR) for 2004 indicate a strong increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to developing countries. After three consecutive years of declining flows, the trend was bucked by a two per cent increase which saw FDIs grow overall to reach $648 billion. Inflows to developing countries, however, surged by 40 per cent, to reach $ 233 billion. The WIR, issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and entitled Transnational Cooperation and the Internationalisation of Research and Development, attributes the growth in FDIs to attempts by many industries to improve their competitiveness by expanding operations in the fast-growing markets of emerging economies. High commodity prices have also stimulated FDIs to countries that possess natural resources. In some developed, as well as developing, countries increased inflows in 2004 were linked to an upturn in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Egypt attracted substantially increased inflows in the oil and natural gas sectors. Indeed, along with Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Angola and NigeriaEgypt tops the list of African recipients of FDIs. Each of the five countries received in excess of $1 billion in inflows, and their combined total of $8.6 billion accounts for just under 50 per cent of FDIs to the continent. As in 2003 rising oil prices underpinned increases in FDIs to Africa, with investments tilted towards natural resources, particularly in the petroleum industry which accounted for 60 per cent of total inflows to Egypt, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria. Petroleum also received the lion's share of investments in Algeria, Libya and Sudan. Egypt, says the report, also attracted FDIs on the back of attempts to diversify the economy and reduce dependence on the hydrocarbon industry by opening up new industries to foreign participation. Increased liberalisation and privatisation prompted FDIs across a range of industries including cement, telecoms and tourism. According to the UNCTAD report Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa accounted for 81 per cent of FDI outflows from Africa, which in 2004 doubled to reach $2.8 billion. Some 57 per cent of outflows were the result of cross border acquisitions by South African corporations making the most of an increasingly liberal outward investment policy. The report points out that transnational corporations from other African countries are also investing within and outside the region, among them Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding Company, which is expanding its operations in Iraq and other Asian countries. The report forecasts a rapid increase in FDI outflows from Africa in 2005 with South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria acting as engines to the growth. Egypt, Libya and Algeria were cited as countries that had made strenuous efforts to improve their investment climates, with each pursuing a raft of investment-friendly policies. The report emphasised that the three countries had simplified their FDI regulations and introduced more transparent FDI regimes. It pointed out that Egypt has adopted anti-trust legislation as part of a concerted drive to improve the country's business environment. The report also provides details of FDI inflows to West Asia, which increased from $6.5 billion in 2003 to $9.8 billion in 2004 with Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey accounting for 59 per cent of the total. China continued to attract the greatest quantity of FDIs among developing countries, receiving $ 61 billion in inflows. Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates also saw a sharp rise in inflows. The report reveals that Africa as a whole did not fair too well with FDI flows remaining at almost the same level -- $18 billion -- as 2003. FDI flows to the continent comprise a meagre three per cent of the 2004 global total, just one per cent higher than a decade ago. On a per capita basis FDI inflows to Africa rose from $8 in 1995 to $20 in 2004, less than half of the $46 per capita figure recorded for China.
