Egypt’s fine balance A new investment law may boost foreign investment while also encouraging corruption At the Trade Syndicate building in downtown Cairo, dozens of workers met with lawyers last May to plan their challenge to a new investment law that restricts contract oversight. Many were angry about questionable business deals between the state and investors, which had left thousands of ordinary workers without jobs. These employees, who represented 15 companies that had been privatised under Hosni Mubarak, the deposed Egyptian president, gathered during a conference organised by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), a small local…
