The Egyptian Industrial Development Authority (IDA) has granted approvals to establish 268 new industrial facilities inside and outside the industrial zones in February 2016, compared to 145 a year earlier, marking an 85 percent growth. Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Qabil stated Saturday that the total investment cost of the anticipated facilities is estimated at 4 billion Egyptian pounds (US$510.7 million), set to provide 14,000 job opportunities. The approvals included seven different industrial sectors as food industries came at the top of the list by getting 106 approvals followed by the chemicals that received 58 approvals, then engineering industries with 56 approvals, while textile got 33 approvals. The following table shows the governorates and number of approvals they received : Governorate Number of approvals Al Sharqia 56 Aswan 36 Giza 29 Monufia 29 Minya 12 Sohag 12 Alexandria 9 Qalyubia 9 Gharbia 9 Beheira 8 Dakahlia 6 Fayoum 6 Damietta 5 Asyut 5 Qena 4 Beni Suef 4 Kafr El Sheikh 3 Port Said 2 Suez 1 Marsa Matruh 1
