CAIRO, May 15 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt’s Finance Ministry, announced yesterday, the selling of a 9.5-percent stake, in state-owned Telecom Egypt, at the country’s stock exchange market.
The ministry said in a statement that, it sold 162,171,802 shares of Telecom Egypt, representing 9.5 percent of the company’s capital, at about 3.75 billion Egyptian pounds (about 121 million U.S. dollars).
The sale comes, amid Egypt’s privatisation efforts, urged by foreign lenders, particularly the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF approved in Dec, a loan to Egypt of about three billion U.S. dollars, over 46 months, to support the country’s economic reform programme, hoping it would pave the way for “sustainable, inclusive and private-sector-led growth.”
The IMF asked the Egyptian government to make a permanent shift to “a flexible exchange rate regime” and reduce “the state footprint” in the economy, as part of the reforms.– NNN-MENA
