Informed sources revealed to Daily News Egypt that the Ministry of Finance and the National Investment Bank survey their contributions to companies owned with the aim of identifying the fastest companies to exit from.
The sources pointed out that these companies will be outside the 32 companies announced to be offered by the prime minister, noting that the purpose of the new companies is to achieve the government’s goal to collect $2bn from the sale of assets during the current month.
The sources indicated that the companies announced in the program will be offered, but it will take some time, prompting the government to search for new alternatives to provide dollar liquidity.
Last February, the Egyptian government put forward a program for government offerings that includes 32 companies to be offered until the end of the first quarter of next year.
The prime minister indicated that the program would include 3 banks, namely Banque du Caire, the United Bank, and the Arab African International Bank, in addition to two companies, Wataniya and Safi, affiliated to the armed forces, stressing that 25% of the program would be implemented within 6 months.
About 3 months after the announcement, the government sold the Paints and Chemical Industries Company, which is fully included in the programme, at a value of $25m, while it exited about 10% of its stake in Telecom Egypt – not included in the program.
The sources confirmed that among the companies to be exited, is the Ministry of Finance’s stake in some companies, such as the sale of Telecom Egypt’s shareholding in its unit in Egypt for the benefit of the Qatar Investment Authority – the sovereign arm of the State of Qatar, and a number of other companies that work is underway to select about 10 companies.
The Egyptian government is racing against time to provide dollar proceeds from the sale of assets, in addition to complying with the conditions of the IMF to increase the role of the private sector in the Egyptian economy.
