The General Authority for Investment (GAFI) announced that it has established 1,741 new companies with total investments of EGP 3.6bn in March. The GAFI report said that about 60.2% of the new companies, equivalent to 1,048, were ranked in the first class in accordance with Law No. 8 for 1997. The second class included 693 companies which were established in accordance with Law No. 159 for 1981. The capital of these companies is divided into three sections: the Egyptian capital of EGP 3.2bn, representing 89.4% of the total capital; the Arab capital of EGP 294m, representing 8.1%; and the foreign capital of EGP 89m, representing 2.5%. The number of companies operating in the industrial sector amounted to 596, representing 34.2% of the total companies, while multi-activity companies were 563, representing 32.3%. There were also 420 companies working in the services sector, 72 in construction, 53 in communications and information technology, 24 in agriculture, and only 12 in tourism. About 98.5% of the total companies were established in the Cairo governorate, while only 26 companies, representing 1.5%, were established in other governorates with a capital of EGP 10m. They include eight companies in Upper Egypt with a capital of EGP 2.4m; two in the East Delta with a capital of EGP 5.1m; six in the other governorates of Greater Cairo (excluding Cairo) with a capital of EGP 600,000; four in the Suez Canal area and the Sinai Peninsula with a capital of EGP 900,000; and six in the West Delta with a capital of EGP 1.3m.
