Egyptian Investment Minister Sahar Nasr announced on Monday new amendments to the mineral wealth law no. 198/2014. 

The new amendments, according to Nasr, includes legislative reforms that aim to facilitate investment activities that fall under this law.

“Projects in the mineral wealth sector will be allowed to make use of all the incentives provided in articles 10, 11, 12 and 13 in the investment law," Nasr revealed, adding that these incentives include a subtract from taxable net profits of up to 50 percent of the investment costs if these projects are established in the most needy areas on the investment map.

The minister added that the perks also include the faster issuing of licenses in an integrated development system where the developer is responsible for development, improvement, promotion and maintenance activities in the zone. In addition, the zone’s board of directors will manage the zone and draw up its action plan and its rules of doing business, while the zone’s executive office is responsible for issuing licenses to establish each project. 

Egypt has 13 under-construction investment zones which are expected to create 208,000 new job opportunities and attract nearly EGP 78 billion.

This is the second time the mineral wealth law will be modified since it was amended in 2017, when the Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resource aimed to attract more investments to the mineral wealth sector through easing regulations and offering more incentives.

The Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority has announced the first bid for gold ore exploration in five concessions in the Eastern Desert.

Four companies initially won the right to mine five concession in May 2017but were not handed the concessions after they objected to the production sharing system which allows the Egypt’s government to get a portion of the production. 

According to previous statements by Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla, the ministry has engaged a foreign company to prepare an integrated plan to make use of Egypt’s mineral resources and propose new amendments to the Mineral Resources Law and fix any flaws in the law. 

The new amendments are part of the new system for managing the mineral wealth sector and aim to give the investors more incentives to establish their projects.