Egypt announces deals to boost private sector

The Egyptian government announced on Tuesday it had signed a number of deals to sell off $1.9 billion dollars worth of stakes in state-owned companies.

Among the sales is the country's large state-owned communications company, Telecom Egypt .

“We announce today that we have been achieving contracts with the private sector - which will be announced by the minister of planning and in total are $1.9 billion American dollars . In total, as the minister will announce, as a country we will be receiving that from a few companies. From that number, we received $1.65 billion dollars, with the remainder of $250 million that we will get in Egyptian pounds. Or we've actually received them, or a part of them, from (selling, Ed.) the communications company (Telecom Egypt, Ed.) and some other companies that the minister will talk about", said Egypt’s Prime Minister,  Mostafa Madbouly .

The move is part of a major privatization reform to sell stakes in at least 32 state-owned companies, from petrochemical firms to major banks, in a bid to downsize Egypt's public sector.

The plan was first unveiled in January and is part of a $3 billion bailout package that Egypt secured from the International Monetary Fund in December to help the cash-strapped North African economy weather recent shocks to the global economy, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine.