Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Egypt plans to divest stake in 250 state firms

Computer Hardware, Electronics, Hardware Creative Commons

The Egyptian government intends to divest its stakes in 250 companies under its privatisation programme, according to assistant prime minister Osama El Gohary.

“The committee supervising the privatisation programme has identified 800 companies with government stakes,” Ahram Online newspaper reported, citing the official’s comment during a meeting with a delegation from the US treasury department in Cairo.

The government has decided that 250 of the 800 companies can be offered now, El Gohary said, adding the committee will decide on the timings for the rest.

In February the government announced a privatisation programme to sell stakes in 32 state-owned companies to garner $2.5 billion by the end of the current fiscal year on June 31, 2023.

The programme is part of the commitments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the 46-month loan package.

The government has only sold stakes in Paint and Chemicals Industries (Pachin) and Telecom Egypt, despite the latter not being included in the initial 32-company list. 

Egypt is awaiting a review from the IMF to receive the second loan tranche of $347 million, which was scheduled in March, but postponed to June.

In May Egypt’s annual urban consumer inflation rate jumped to 32.7 percent from 30.6 percent in April, data from the country’s statistics agency Capmas showed.

Month-on-month, urban inflation increased to 2.7 percent from 1.7 percent in April.

Inflation has grown sharply over the last year after a string of currency devaluations since March 2022, a protracted shortage of foreign currency and persisting delays in getting imports into the country.

Latest articles

A Geely Galaxy E8 electric vehicle at Auto China 2024. Geely is one of the most popular Chinese car brands in the Gulf

Chinese carmakers ‘taking Gulf by storm’

Chinese carmakers now claim a sizeable chunk of new car sales in the Gulf and it is likely they will increase their market share further by wooing regional consumers through their vehicles’ innovative designs and perceived value for money. That is the prediction of Amir Khurshid, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s ThinkDirect Automotive Consulting and an […]

UAE’s RedBird IMI acquires UK TV producer for $1.5bn

RedBird IMI, A US investment management company partly owned by Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments, has acquired All3Media, the UK’s largest independent TV production company behind hits such as Fleabag, The Traitors and Gogglebox. The for £1.15 billion ($1.5 billion) deal is the largest for RedBird IMI to date, the company said in a statement. […]

Tunisia olives

Soaring olive oil exports help Tunisia balance books

Tunisia’s soaring olive oil exports have almost doubled to close to $1 billion in just five months, helping it claw back its current account deficit.   However the increased revenues merely “paint over the cracks” and the country is still probably heading towards a sovereign default, according to an economic expert. Tunisia’s current account deficit narrowed […]

Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani attends licensing rounds for 29 oil and gas exploration blocks at the oil ministry's headquarters in Baghdad

Falling oil prices deepen Iraq’s fiscal imbalances, says IMF

Iraq’s fiscal imbalances have worsened due to significant fiscal expansion and lower oil prices, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “The ongoing fiscal expansion is expected to boost growth in 2024 at the expense of a further deterioration of fiscal and external accounts and Iraq’s vulnerability to oil price fluctuations,” the Washington-based fund said in […]