Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced on Sunday that two companies will be established that will merge the major Egyptian ports and hotels, and offer percentages of them on the stock exchange.
“We announce that the seven largest Egyptian ports will be merged under the umbrella of one company, and a percentage of them will be listed on the stock exchange,” Madbouly said, in a press conference broadcast on television.
He added: “Also, the very distinguished hotels in Egypt are considered among the best assets that will be merged under one company, and percentages of them will be offered (in the stock market) to Egyptians and investors.”
Madbouly added that a percentage of the modern transport projects implemented by the government, such as the monorail, the high-speed train, and the electric train, will also be put on the stock exchange.
In addition, the Egyptian Prime Minister reiterated that ten companies affiliated with the state, and two affiliated with the Egyptian army, will be listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange before the end of this year.
During the conference, the government presented the country’s repercussions of the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the global economy and the remarkable increase in the prices of grains, oils and oil due to the conflict that erupted in February.
This caused the annual inflation rate in Egypt to rise to about 15 percent for the month of last April, which prompted Egypt to devalue the local currency, as the Egyptian pound lost about 17 percent of its value against the dollar on March 21, to exceed the sale price of the green currency at 18 pounds.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves also decreased, with a value of four billion dollars to 37 billion dollars, which is sufficient to cover five months of merchandise imports.
Egypt requested support from the International Monetary Fund in the form of a new loan to mitigate the repercussions of the war in Ukraine on the economy of the country where the poverty rate reaches about 30 percent of the total population of more than 103 million people.
At Sunday’s conference, Madbouly indicated that “completely empowering the private sector” during the next three years is part of the state’s vision to deal with the global economic crisis.
“The share of private sector participation in total investments will be raised to 65 percent,” he said, more than double the current 30 percent.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi directed the government, in a public event during the month of Ramadan, to announce “a program for the private sector’s participation in state-owned assets with a target of $10 billion annually for a period of four years.”
In statements last year to AFP, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris said, “The (Egyptian) state must be a regulator and not an owner” of economic activity, calling on the government not to compete with the private sector.