Foreign investment exits from Egypt have slowed during the first quarter (Q1) of 2015, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced on Monday. The exiting rate has declined by 12% and foreign investments during Q1 of 2015 reached $1.53bn, compared to $1.74bn in Q1 of 2014. The CBE's monthly report, issued Monday, showed that foreign investments coming to Egypt during Q1 of 2015 marked a record increase of 207%, reaching $2.94bn. This compared to the previous quarter, Q4 of 2014, and an increase of 190% compared to Q1 2014. This increase is due to the steady increase of British and Arab investments, especially from the UAE, according to the report. The report further noted that European Union (EU) investments in Egypt over Q1 of 2015 have reached $2.03bn, compared to $1.6bn in Q1 of 2014. Of this amount, British investments account for $1.68bn, and $59.7m were German investments. However, French, Italian, Dutch and Belgium investments have marked relative decreases. Investments from the US have also decreased, to reach $508.6m during Q1 of 2015 compared to $536.6m over the same period last year. In Q1 of 2015, the Arab investments have jumped to reach $1.34bn, compared to $386.8m in Q1 of 2014. This increase is due to the steady increase of UAE's investments that have reached $843.5m compared to $148.3m during Q1 2014, the report added. Kuwaiti investments have also increased to reach $50.1m over Q1 2015, compared to $21.1m during Q1 2014. In addition, Qatari investments have increased to $35.4m compared to $23.5m in the same comparison period, according to the CBE. Meanwhile, Saudi investments reached $351.1m in Q1 of 2015, compared to $124.6m in the same period last year. Furthermore, the report showed that Egypt's total domestic debt amounted to around EGP 2.016tn by the end of last March, compared to EGP 1.924tn by the end of December 2014, with an increase of EGP 91.7bn. Source: Daily News Egypt
