Cairo: Egypt's cabinet approved on Thursday a bill easing the issuing of permits for new industrial projects by reducing the registration period, said the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade in a press release.

The new bill would allow applicants for an industrial facility permit to operate after notifying the relevant administrative authority, with the exception of projects with high risk to the environment.

If approved by parliament, the new bill would reduce the duration needed to issue an industrial permit to 30 days, down from 634 days, the minister of industry and foreign trade, Tarek Kabil, said in the statement, citing a World Bank report.

The longevity of business registration procedures has long deterred investors from starting new projects in Egypt, a challenge to the government's attempts to attract new investments.

In an attempt to improve the business environment, the government approved an investment law in March 2015 that includes establishing the one-stop-shop for issuing business permits.

Egypt ranked 131 out of 189 countries in the World Bank Doing Business report for 2016, down five ranks from the previous year.

The country fell four spots to 73rd place in the Starting a Business category and slid two spots to rank 111th in Registering Property, the report showed.

Egypt's economic growth slowed to 3 percent in the three months ending 31 September last year, down from 5.6 percent in the same period a year earlier, the central bank data showed.

Source: Ahram Online