Egypt to sell state shares in 32 firms by March 2024

• Pm Moustafa Madbouly announced that Egypt intends to sell shares in at least 32 enterprises.
• Shares in a number of businesses will be sold.
• The size of the holdings that will be offered was not mentioned.

Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly announced on Wednesday that Egypt intends to sell shares in at least 32 enterprises by the end of March 2024, reviving plans that have largely remained dormant for years as the nation’s financial problems grew.

A share in each of the three renowned banks, Banque du Caire, United Bank of Egypt, and Arab African International Bank, is among the scheduled transactions. Additionally up for sale are hotels, industrial and agricultural concerns, as well as insurance, electricity, and energy companies.

Madbouly announced following a cabinet meeting that the first stakes will be given by the end of March and a quarter by the end of June. Over the following year, more businesses might be included on the list.

“The offerings include a number of companies either to widen the participation of Egyptian citizens in public ownership or to bring in strategic investors,” he said.

Many of the stakes, including those in the three banks, were set to be sold, but the program was postponed due to economic downturns, the epidemic, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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According to economists, the government’s slow bureaucracy and opposition from influential groups within it had also hampered the plans for privatization.

After the war in Ukraine caused significant foreign investment to leave Egyptian financial markets and put the economy into crisis, the sale of state assets became even more urgent.

In December, Egypt and the International Monetary Fund agreed to a $3 billion rescue plan. Egypt expects the earnings from the privatization push to assist bridge financial gaps during the four-year IMF program.

The size of the holdings that will be offered was not mentioned by Madbouly, but in recent years, the government has been reluctant to give up controlling interests.

Shares in a number of businesses that are currently traded on the stock exchange, such as Paints and Chemical Industries Co, Port Said Containers And Cargo Handling Co., and Damietta Container and Cargo Handling Company, will be sold.

Additionally, there are shares in at least two businesses held by the military’s National Service Projects Organization: bottled mineral water producer National Co. for Natural Water in Siwa and Watanya Petrol, which operates a chain of gas stations.

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