Egypt: Qatar's sovereign wealth fund has deposited $1 billion with the Egyptian Central Bank for the acquisition of stakes in Egyptian public companies

The Qatari sovereign wealth fund has deposited $1 billion with the Egyptian Central Bank, as it is in advanced talks to acquire stakes in Egyptian state-owned companies, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday (November 9th), citing people familiar with the matter.

Qatar Investment Authority, which has $445 billion in assets under management, made the filing to help Cairo consolidate its public finances and strengthen its foreign currency holdings pending the signing of an agreement on the acquisition of stakes , said the same sources who preferred to remain anonymous.

Bloomberg had already reported last October that the sovereign wealth fund of the world’s largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas was negotiating the acquisition of stakes in Egyptian state companies for around $2.5 billion, including 20% ​​of the capital shares. of the mobile operator Vodafone Egypt.

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While foreign investors have withdrawn $22 billion from the Egyptian debt market since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Cairo is facing higher food and fuel import bills.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 concluded, at the end of October, an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a financing program of $ 3 billion. But the American bank Goldman Sachs estimated, in an analysis published in August, that Egypt needs to mobilize $15 billion to meet its financing needs over the next three years.