Egypt’s Finance Ministry announced offering up 35 state-owned companies in 19 sectors on IPO from October 2023 to June 2024, with the eligible companies that will be offered having an estimated value of up to four billion dollars.
The golden license for investors helps shorten the procedures for establishing investment projects in the shortest possible time, the ministry said, in a manner that will contribute to creating a more stimulating environment for industry, production and export.
Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said that the government is eager to deepen the private sector’s participation in economic activity, by providing a package of incentives and integrated measures.
These measures include establishing a strong and flexible infrastructure and canceling preferential treatment for state-owned entities and companies, he explained, in order to provide equal opportunities and maximize competitiveness between the public and private sectors.
Positive forecast
Maait’s statements came during his meeting with the Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Antoinette Monsio Sayeh, and the Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at IMF Jihad Azour, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Morocco.
He assured the continuation of structural reforms through the adoption of balanced policies that take into account social dimensions and are based on a commitment to financial discipline, coming as a positive response to the negative repercussions of complex global crises.
Maait explained, “We were able to achieve positive economic indicators over the past nine years, compared to its counterpart about 43 years ago, despite the extremely difficult successive economic challenges witnessed in the international arena.”
“The budget deficit rate to domestic product decreased from 13.8 percent in the fiscal year 1981-1982 to six percent in June 2023, and we expect it to decrease to five percent in June 2027. During the current fiscal year, we aim to achieve the largest primary surplus in Egypt’s history at about 2.5 percent.”
The minister said, “We are keen to move forward with the implementation of the public debt management strategy to put debt-to-domestic product ratios on a downward path by extending the average life of the debt and reducing the cost of servicing it.”
