Egypt Africa’s top FDI recipient in 2025, says UNCTAD

The Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) highlighted on Tuesday the UNCTAD’s latest Global Investment Trends Monitor, which revealed that Egypt emerged as Africa’s top destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2025, with an estimated $11 billion in inflows, amid an attractive investment environment and rising new projects.
Egypt ranked ahead of other major African economies despite a sharp regional slowdown, the UNCTAD said.
According to the UNCTAD, announcements of new greenfield FDI projects in Egypt achieved a notable increase in 2025, contributing to a 5 per cent rise in the total number of announced projects across Africa to 639.
The largest rise was recorded in the automotive manufacturing sector, reflecting Egypt’s improving position on the regional investment map, particularly in industrial and manufacturing sectors.
Egypt’s positive performance came at a time when FDI inflows to Africa declined by nearly one-third compared with 2024, reflecting a return to normal levels after an exceptional surge over the previous year.
This reflects improvement in Egypt’s position as a relatively stable investment destination amid global economic volatility.
At the global level, UNCTAD noted that FDI rose by 14 per cent in 2025 to around $1.6 trillion after two years of decline.
However, this recovery was largely superficial, driven mainly by financial flows through global financial hubs and capital-intensive investments in a limited number of sectors such as data centres and semiconductors, while real investment activity remained weak and geographically and sectorally uneven.
The 14 per cent global rise was heavily influenced by more than $140bn in flows through major financial centres, including the United Kingdom and Luxembourg. In developed economies, FDI rose by 43 per cent to $728billion. In contrast, flows to developing economies declined by 2 per cent to 877billion.