Egypt saw the opening and expansion of 2,172 firms with investments of about EGP 6.3bn in February, the ministry of investment and international cooperation (MIIC) said in its monthly investment report released on Wednesday. The value of new investments reached EGP 4.6bn through 2,059 newly founded firms during that month, while 113 other existing firms expanded their businesses with EGP 1.7bn in investment, the report added. In detail, 735 companies were established under the internal investment system with EGP 1.6bn in investments accounting for 36% of February's whole investments, while four companies were established in free zones with EGP 40m in investments, representing 1%. Additionally, 1,320 new corporate law firms were opened with EGP 2.9bn in investments, representing 63% of the whole investments. The services sector came in the first place with EGP 2.3bn investments, followed by the industrial sector with EGP 839m investments. The report mentioned that Cairo had the biggest share of February's new investments, estimated at EGP 2.4bn, followed by Giza with EGP 1.6bn. Egyptians injected 84% of the new investments, equivalent to EGP 3.9bn, an increase of 55% in comparison to February 2018, the report clarified, noting that foreigners' investments reached EGP 123m, while Arab investments were EGP 609.8m. The report pointed out that 149 companies were established in the sole proprietorship category in February with a total capital of EGP 17m, adding that only two companies were established with Egyptian capital of EGP 770m in the fields of commercial and educational services. Egypt set the minimum required capital for establishment of a one-person company at EGP 50,000 to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises.
