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Egypt has contracts to sell $1.9bn worth of state assets - PM

July 11, 2023 at 6:44 pm

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly in Pretoria [MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images]

Egypt has signed contracts to sell stakes in state assets worth a total of $1.9 billion as part of a programme to boost the private sector and raise scarce hard currency, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

The contracts include a deal to sell minority stakes in three companies to Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund for $800 million, and a deal to raise $700 million by increasing the capital of a company that owns a group of hotels in Egypt, said Planning Minister, Hala El-Said.

Egypt’s government is trying to accelerate a programme to offload state assets as it struggles with a persistent shortage of foreign currency.

The programme has faced delays in recent months, increasing pressure on the Egyptian pound, which has lost about half its value against the dollar since early last year.

The government is about one quarter through a list of 32 state companies that it announced last year it would sell stakes in, and is preparing stake sales in other companies for later, Madbouly told a press conference in Cairo, attended by several senior ministers.

Egypt expects to increase its annual inflow of hard currency to $70 billion per year by 2026, the Prime Minister said.

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