International investors interested in expanding their businesses to Egypt now have more strategic reasons to do so. This is because there are now 7 additional free zones for them, making it a total of 16 free zones in Egypt, and placing the country just behind Kenya (which has over 40 free zones) and Nigeria (which has over 22 free zones).

Investors in Egypt Doing Business Within the Free Zones Get The Following Benefits:

1) No limitations in transferring profits and investing money.

2) The right to import and export without the need of recording in the Register of Importers.

3) All equipment, machinery, and transportation required for the activities thereof are exempt from customs duties and sales tax (with the exception of cars).

4) Their property and funds shall never be detained, seized, retained in protective custody, frozen or confiscated.

5) No administrative body shall interfere in pricing the companies and establishments’ products, nor in determining their profits.

6) Projects in the free zones are free from custom taxes, Sales Tax, and many other fees.

7) The projects are only subject to annual 1% fee on goods which enter or exit the Zone. However, only 3% annual fee is collected by the government where the projects are in the Service sectors, such as insurance, law, accounting. etc.

Location Of The New Free Zones

The Egyptian government has made it clear that the projects would be located in:

Also See: World Bank Invests $200M To Promote Entrepreneurship Projects in Egypt-egypt

Minya

Minya is located South of Cairo, with over four million people. It has large electric light-making industries within the New Minya City; heavy cement factories in Sarareya and Sheikh Fadl Industrial Zones. Other sectors include Food and Beverage,Wood and Furniture, Building Materials, Chemical Industries. Small and Medium enterprises in Minya constitute 6% of the total SME landscape in Egypt, with majority of them engaged in manufacturing activities.

South Sinai

South Sinai is the least populated political division in Egypt, located in the eastern part of the country, with a population of only 104,000 people. The city has a large number of businesses engaged in Building Materials, Chinaware, Porcelain & Refractories, Food, Beverages & Tobacco, Crude oil, its refined products and Natural Gas, Production& Distribution of Electric Light & Power.

New Ismailia

Ismailia is a city in north-eastern Egypt, with a population of 366,669. Business activities in New Ismailia include: manufacturing of ready-made garments; manufacturing of leather products; manufacturing of calculating & electronic machines; manufacturing of software & information systems; manufacturing of chemicals, fertilisers & petroleum services; leasing of petroleum equipment.

Ismailia is considered one of the most suitable suitable tourism investment zones due to its distinguished location on Lake Timsah, the great bitter lakes & the Suez Canal ( considered to be the shortest shipping route between Arab and Asian countries and the West of Europe and America)

Other key locations include:

1. “El-Herafeyeen”in Giza
2. Gamasa in Dakahlia famous for a number of old and diverse industries, most important of which are: fertilizers; chemical industries; rice production
3. Aswan noted for tourism.
4. KafrEl-Sheikh, located in the northern part of Egypt and noted for cotton-processing factories, rice and fishing.

Investors In Egypt Are Already Smarter

• The Egyptian government said the number of projects in the whole of Free Zones in Egypt exceeded 1095 projects, with capital amounting to $12.5 billion, in addition to $2.15 billion in direct foreign investment (FDI) and an investment cost of about $26.3 billion.These projects contributed to the provision of 194,000 jobs.

• The new projects would include more than 1,000 projects, which will contribute to the provision of about 120,000 jobs, according to the Egyptian government.

• Before this development, there were nine Public Free Zones in Egypt located in Alexandria (Amrya), Cairo (Nasr City), Port Said, Suez, Ismailia, Damietta, Shebeen ALKoum, Qeft, and the MediaZone City.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh, a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.