IFC Director for North Africa and the Horn of Africa stated that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has indicated that it intends to spend about $1.2 billion in Egypt in the current fiscal year 2026, surged $915 million in the previous fiscal year.
Speaking at the World Bank conference entitled “Multilateral Development Projects: Procurement Readiness and Opportunities in Egypt,” Sylla indicated that about $1 billion has already been committed during the current fiscal year.
Therefore, this will witness the total cumulative investment portfolio of IFC in Egypt to $6.5 billion in the last seven years. Sylla added that the IFC aims to scale up its annual investments in Egypt to reach $1 billion on a sustained basis, highlighting the institution’s long-term commitment to back economic development and private sector expansion in the country.
He clarified that the existing investments of IFC in Egypt are spread over a number of major sectors that are in line with the goals of sustainable growth. The financial sector has the highest proportion of the portfolio of 47 percent.
Infrastructure, renewable energy, and transport projects come next, and all these accounts to 32 percent of the total investments and help Egypt to sustain long-term development requirements.
However, the manufacturing, tourism, and real estate sectors account for around 12 percent of IFC’s investments, and startups and investment funds represent 6 percent, indicating support for innovation and entrepreneurship.
The healthcare industry constitutes approximately 3 percent of the portfolio, with agribusiness taking 1 percent, which reflects the diversification of the IFC investment strategy and the concentration on sectors that have physical economic and social impact.
Besides direct investments, the IFC also offers advisory services worth $27 million to facilitate priority strategic areas in Egypt. The financial industry dominates in the advisory services with 38 percent of all the engagements, and the second one is the public-private partnership (PPP) advisory services with 21 percent, with the view of enhancing the efficiency and implementation of development projects.
Sylla observed that advisory services associated with manufacturing, agribusiness, and services constitute 17 percent of total activities. The proportion attributed to the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices and market-creation advisory services is 9 each as IFC focuses on sustainability and market development.
Green building efforts constitute 4 percent of advisory services and 2 percent of programmes supporting gender equality, which emphasize the institution’s interest in inclusive and sustainable development of the economy.
