20120908
AP
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's prime minister says Qatar has agreed to invest $18 billion in Egypt over the next five years to help boost the country's ailing economy.

Hesham Kandil announced the agreement Thursday at a joint news conference with Qatari Prime Minister Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani.

Kandil says the investment will target Egypt's industrial, tourism and energy sectors.

The funds aim to help revive Egypt's battered economy and lure back foreign investment that has all but disappeared since last year's uprising.

Revenues from tourism — one of Egypt's biggest money-makers and employers — fell 30 percent to $9 billion in 2011 and the industry is only making a meager recovery.

Qatar has already delivered around $500 million of a promised $2 billion loan to Egypt's central bank.