The government seeks to improve the investment climate to increase private sector investment rate, which stood at 70.5% rate during the FY 2014/2015 of the total implemented investments, Minister of Investment Ashraf Salman said during the panel discussing investment and fiscal policies at the Akhbar Al-Youm economic conference Wednesday. He said the economic growth rate recorded 4.2 % of the GDP for the FY 2014/2015, noting that the government has targeted about 5.5 % for the current fiscal year. The panel discussion was attended by a number of officials including the Minister of Planning Ashraf El-Araby and the Minister of Finance Hany Kadry Dimian. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, a number of other ministers, officials, and 1,000 businessmen, and economic experts attended the conference. Salman said the Egyptian economy is open to the world and is based on market mechanisms. The efforts were deployed to improve the investment climate, to increase the economy's competitiveness, and to develop local and foreign investments, which are elements that decrease unemployment rates. Presenting a number of economic indicators, Salman said the companies' foundation rate has grown from 433 companies over FY 2013/2014 to reach around 860 new companies per month over FY 2014/2015. Egypt is targeting the foundation of 1,000 new companies per month during the current FY 2015/2016, Salman added. The Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) rate increased from $ 4.1bn in FY 2013/2014 to $6.3bn in FY 2014/2015, while targeting $10bn over the current fiscal year.
