#Egypt’s economic turnround hailed by investors | Financial Times

Egypt’s economic turnround hailed by investors  | Financial Times:

Three years ago, Egypt’s economy was teetering on the abyss, as entrepreneurs scoured the black market for dollars and foreign investors shunned the country. Now it is being hailed as one of the region’s fastest-growing economies, favoured by international bond investors seeking high yields in an increasingly uncertain global environment.

The turnround represents an important success for the authoritarian regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. His government has been widely criticised by human rights groups for a severe crackdown on freedoms, but investors have praised its implementation of bold and politically sensitive reforms that previous administrations balked at.

The challenge for Mr Sisi, a former general who ousted his elected predecessor in 2013, is to turn the country’s macroeconomic improvements into prosperity for its 100m people. Poverty has been rising, official statistics say, and foreign direct investment is paltry outside the oil and gas sector.