As much as I am following investment activity in Egypt, even I was shocked to learn that Egypt has jumped to the 5th position globally as a destination for ” greenfield ” Foreign Direct Investment. This is not a fantasy of the Egyptian press, it is from the annual report on investment by the United Nations Committee on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Greenfield means that a foreign company builds it’s own facilities in the country from the ground up, instead of merging with or acquiring, or partnering with an existing local company. Obviously, this is perhaps the most dangerous forms of FDI, in that there is almost no residual benefits to local business; no technology transfer, no partnership, and local producers are put into direct competition with huge corporations and their brand new facilities.
I have been saying for months now that the Foreign Currency Reserve crisis is being fabricated and the hype about foreign investors fleeing Egypt is inaccurate. This has all been exaggerated to create panic and to coerce Egypt into capitulating with IMF and World Bank demands.
Multinationals are invading and conquering the country at an alarming pace, and this is just making it all the more important to them that Egypt subjugate economic policy completely to their interests.