Cairo – Mubasher: Arafa for Investment and Consultancies has no plans to inject new investments at present, especially after the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) decision to raise interest rates by 200 basis points, the company’s chairman, Alaa Arafa, told Al Shorouk newspaper.

Arafa said that the current cost of finance does not encourage investors to pump new investments, noting that there is are no projects capable of making profits at the moment, in light of obstacles and obligations imposed on investors, such as the value added tax (14%) and the profit tax (22%).

In December 2016, Arafa said that it works on expanding its operations within the Egyptian ready - made clothes sector.

Arafa suggested that the safest choice at the moment is to deposit money in banks instead of investing.