Egypt: The Egyptian government will sell several business sectors to private investors

Egypt wants to reduce its total debt to 75% of gross domestic product in the next four years, against 86% currently. To this end, the authorities wish to cede several sectors of activity to private investors, in order to mobilize funds.

The Egyptian government will cede several business sectors to private investors. The announcement was made by the Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly during a press conference relayed by the media on May 15.

Indeed, according to Reuters, the authorities will sell shares they own in ports and hotels on the stock market for an amount of $9 billion this year. The objective of the forward operation is “to attract $40 billion in investment over the next four years“.

The authorities thus hope to increase private investments from the current 30% to 65% of the total volume of investments in the country within the next three years. In the long term, the government plans to open renewable energy projects, desalination plants, education and banking assets to private investment.

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“We will propose to the private sector projects in the field of electric vehicles, data centers, networks for oil and gas and the expansion of gas liquefaction plants, communication towers and wind energy”, explained Prime Minister Madbouly.

According to the leader, the government has already identified $9 billion in financially accessible assets, and plans $15 billion in additional assets to be disposed of. “These combined amounts are higher than the target set for the first two years” by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who asked the government to draw up a program aimed at attracting $10 billion in “private capital“ over the course of each of the next four years.

According to the World Bank, the depreciation of the Egyptian currency added to the adverse consequences of the war in Ukraine had a negative impact on growth in the financial year 2022/23. For the Bank, several reforms are necessary, in order to strengthen “the potential of the private sector in activities with higher added value and oriented towards exports”. These reforms will make it possible to “create jobs and improve the standard of living”, specifies the World Bank.