- Egypt: An OECD report published last summer indicates that Egypt has made impressive progress over recent years in investment policy but both foreign and national companies still confront serious obstacles. The Investment Policy Review of Egypt 2007 says foreign direct investment inflows increased twelve-fold between 2001 and 2006. They reached $9 billion in the first three quarters of its 2007 fiscal year, up from just over $0.5 billion in 2001. This compares with $6.1 billion for the whole of 2006. The ambitious reform programme, started in 2004, has helped spread the benefits of foreign direct investment (FDI) more widely across the economy. In 2004, two-thirds of all FDI was in the oil and gas industry but by 2006 that same share flowed into the manufacturing and services sectors, with oil accounting for just a third. However, foreign investment is restricted in several sectors, notably construction, electricity, and transport. In the construction industry, for example, foreign investors must set up joint-venture companies in which foreign equity is limited to 49%. Some sectors also impose limits on the number of foreign workers a firm can employ and on the services they can offer. For example, only Egyptian nationals can represent clients before a court. Although a foreign law firm can set up an office in Egypt to serve its international clients, it could not represent a client in a court of law. Such restrictions should be reviewed, the report says. (OECD - OECD examination of investment projects - Egypt).