Local investment in Egypt rises 1.3 pct y/y in Q1 -state media

Egypt's central bank said that local investment in the country reached 7.64 billion Egyptian pounds in the first quarter of the fiscal year that began in July, up 1.27 percent year-on-year, state media agency MENA reported on Tuesday.

The first quarter of the 2013-14 fiscal year saw Egypt's army remove elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi from power following mass protests against his rule, renewing political and economic turmoil that started with a 2011 uprising.

Mursi's removal preceded a crackdown that began by targeting Islamists and has since expanded to include secular opponents of the government of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The government, which says it is committed to democracy, is trying to burnish Egypt's image ahead of a key investment conference in mid-March.

It hopes that the conference in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh will tempt foreign and local investors to pump more money into an economy that is seeing a nascent but uncertain recovery.