Egypt expects to attract $8 billion of foreign direct investment in the current fiscal year through June, up from $4 billion last year, Investment Minister Ashraf Salman said.

Salman, speaking at a business conference in Dubai, also reiterated that the government was aiming to cut its budget deficit to 10 per cent of gross domestic product in the current year from 15 per cent in the previous year.

Egypt plans to launch a $1.5 billion sovereign bond issue by June - its first Eurobond issue after a five-year gap caused by political and economic instability - and then another sovereign bond issue in September, Salman said. He did not specify the size of the second issue.