Qatari investments should breathe a breath of fresh air into the Egyptian economy, which is bearing the brunt of the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
Qatar is in advanced talks to acquire stakes in Egyptian state-owned companies, including the country’s largest mobile operator, for around $2.5 billion, Bloomberg reported on Oct. 19, citing people familiar with the matter.
In this context, Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of the world’s leading producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas, should take a 20% stake in Vodafone Egypt, from Telecom Egypt, said these sources.
Qatari investments should be finalized by the end of 2022. They could breathe a breath of fresh air into the Egyptian economy, which is bearing the brunt of the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
While foreign investors have pulled $22 billion from the Egyptian debt market since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Cairo is facing higher food and fuel import bills.
Egypt had severed its relations with Qatar in June 2017, in particular because of Doha’s alleged support for the Muslim Brotherhood. This brotherhood had won the elections in Egypt in the wake of the 2011 revolution, before being banned in 2013 in the wake of the overthrow of the Islamist Mohamed Morsi by Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.
Relations between Cairo and Doha were only restored in January 2021 as part of a comprehensive reconciliation also involving Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
In March 2022, Qatar deposited $3 billion with the Egyptian Central Bank to help the Arab world’s most populous country cope with soaring food prices.
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