IFC, Switzerland Help Egypt Ease Business Regulations, Boosting Economy and Job Growth

Cairo, Egypt, August 23, 2011—IFC,a member of the World Bank Group, and Switzerland’s State Secretariatfor Economic Affairs (SECO), are helping Egypt implement business-friendlyregulations to encourage economic growth and create jobs.

SECO has committed $3.2 million to athree-year IFC Advisory Services program that will work with the governmentand the private sector to improve Egypt’s business environment by addressingkey regulatory bottlenecks in areas such as the issuance of business permits,and access to finance. The initiative is designed to tackle the unemploymentand lack of opportunity that are challenging countries across the MiddleEast and North Africa.

“Switzerland supports IFC’s continuedefforts in Egypt to build a better business environment because we knowhow important the private sector can be to a nation’s economic and socialdevelopment,” said Stefano Toscano, Chargé  d’affaires at the SwissEmbassy in Cairo. “Progress has been made in recent years to make doingbusiness in the country easier, and we look forward to further improvementsin the coming years with a view to creating an even more diversified andinclusive economy.”

“ Youth unemployment is a major challengein the region. So efforts to encourage job growth, entrepreneurship andnew investment are now more important than ever,” said Luke Haggarty,IFC Regional Head of Advisory Services in the Middle East and North Africa.

IFC and SECO have worked together extensivelyin Egypt. In the past, they spearheaded a program to simplify businessstart-ups, and SECO funded an IFC-run alternative dispute resolution project.

Intensified efforts to improve Egypt’sinvestment climate are just one aspect of IFC’s response to recent eventsin the country and region. IFC also helped launch an education for employmentinitiative to develop skills tailored to the job market, and a financingfacility to support construction of needed infrastructure in the region.IFC is also ramping up efforts to enhance access to finance for currentlyunderserved groups. Owners of micro, small and medium enterprises particularlyneed access to finance to grow and create jobs.

About IFC

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group,is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on theprivate sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growthby financing investment, providing advisory services to businesses andgovernments, and mobilizing capital in the international financial markets.In fiscal 2011, amid economic uncertainty across the globe, we helped ourclients create jobs, strengthen environmental performance, and contributeto their local communities—all while driving our investments to an all-timehigh of nearly $19 billion. For more information, visit

www.ifc.org

To learn more about SECO, visit

www.seco.admin.ch/index.html?lang=en

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