CAIRO, Apr 10 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt will soon offer stakes in a number of military-owned companies on the stock exchange, to boost private sector’s involvement in the economy, said Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, yesterday.
Madbouly noted that, the stakes will be offered as per an agreement signed earlier yesterday, between the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, the National Service Projects Organisation, affiliated with the Armed Forces, several investment banks, and consulting firms, the cabinet said in a statement.
Among the military-affiliated companies to be offered are gas station operators, Wataniya and Chillout, bottled water company Safi, Silo Foods, and the National Company for Roads Building and Development, according to the prime minister.
“We will begin offering a number of these companies, as we promised, during this year, and we will complete the rest in 2026,” Madbouly told a weekly press conference, following a cabinet meeting. “All of this is part of the state’s exit strategy and the process of offering and maximising the benefits of state assets,” he added.
With this step, Egypt aims to fulfill the requirements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to increase the private sector’s involvement in the economy.
Last week, Egypt received a 1.2-billion-U.S.-dollar loan tranche, from the IMF, following the fund’s approval of the fourth review of the country’s economic reform programme.
The disbursement is part of an expanded 8-billion-dollar Extended Fund Facility, agreed in Mar, 2024, which augmented an original 3-billion-dollar, 46-month programme, approved in late 2022 to support Egypt’s reforms.
Facing a persistent foreign currency shortage and high debt levels, the nation has implemented austerity measures, including currency devaluations and interest rate hikes, to comply with IMF requirements.– NNN-MENA
