The most recent data from the U.S. Department of Commerce shows that Egypt is the largest recipient of U.S. direct investment in Africa at 2021’s end and fifth in the Middle East after Israel, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. According to the Central Bank of Egypt, the United States was the fifth largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Egypt during FY 2021/22, behind the UAE, Netherlands, Italy and the United Kingdom. American companies invested USD 1.5 billion, accounting for 17% of total FDI in the country.
American firms are active in most economic sectors in Egypt, primarily in oil and gas exploration and production (E&P), with Apache Corporation, Chevron Corporation, ExxonMobil, Halliburton and IPR Energy Group operating in the market.
As of January 2023’s end, U.S. non-petroleum capital stock totaled USD 2.3 billion injected in 1,716 businesses in Egypt. According to the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), American financial services enterprises held the largest share in value terms (40%) of the U.S. non-petroleum capital stock in Egypt, with AIG, American Express, BNY Mellon, Mastercard, MetLife and Visa all active in the sector.
Manufacturing is the second largest beneficiary of American investment, accounting for 32% of U.S. non-petroleum capital and 21% of the number of companies operating with U.S. capital in Egypt. Large U.S. manufacturers include 3M, Abbott, AbbVie, American Automotive, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cargill, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Dow Chemical, Edison International, Energizer, General Electric, General Motors, Heinz, Honeywell, Hundz Soil, Ideal Standard International, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg’s, Mars, Merck, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Proctor & Gamble and Xerox.
American companies operating within service sectors—such as commercial services (including recent entrants Amazon and Netflix), consultancies, healthcare and education—contributed 17% of U.S. non-oil capital and accounted for 43% of companies. Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, IBM and Microsoft all operate in the telecommunications and IT sector, which accounted for 3% of U.S. capital in Egypt and 16% of companies.
The Egyptian fast-food market is dominated by U.S.-based franchises including Baskin-Robbins, Burger King, Chili’s, Cinnabon, Cold Stone Creamery, Dunkin’ Donuts, Hardee’s, Hard Rock Café, KFC, Krispy Kreme, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Starbucks and TGI Fridays.
U.S. Contribution of Companies’ Capital (Stock end of January 2023)
