CAIRO, Dec 30 (NNN-MENA) – Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, approved a state ownership policy that defines the government’s economic presence with an aim to increase the private sector’s role in the economy, the cabinet said in a statement, yesterday.
The president’s approval of the State Ownership Policy Document, “confirms the state’s keenness to allow more room for the private sector to participate in generating economic growth,” Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, was quoted as saying, at the cabinet meeting.
The move is among key demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has recently approved a loan of three billion U.S. dollars to Egypt, to support the country’s economic and structural reforms.
The IMF’s support package includes measures to be implemented by Egypt, to “reduce the state’s footprint” and “facilitate private-sector-led growth,” in addition to, adopting a permanent shift to a durable exchange rate regime.
Madbouly said that, the new policy seeks to implement the state’s gradual exit from some economic activities, to allow the private sector to increase its presence in those sectors.
He added that, the approved document mainly aims to raise the investment rate to 25-30 percent, thus contributing to boosting the economic growth rate to seven-nine percent.
Egypt has been facing increasing inflation in the past year, driven by rising food and energy prices. The country’s annual urban consumer inflation rate surged to 18.7 percent in Nov, marking the highest in nearly five years.– NNN-MENA
