Egypt will agree with investors on a case-by-case basis whether to value in US dollars or Egyptian pounds the state assets it’s putting up for sale, a top official said to Bloomberg.
The choice of currency in valuing the stakes is shaping up as a hurdle in Egypt’s bid to quickly secure foreign exchange from its Gulf allies and others to buoy an economy tipped into crisis by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Bloomberg last week reported the issue had led to talks stalling with Saudi Arabia over the purchase of Cairo-based United Bank.
There’ll be an agreement “first between us as a government and the investor” on the currency for each deal, Hala El-Said, the chairperson of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, said in an interview Tuesday in Qatar’s capital, Doha.
El-Said, who’s also the North African nation’s planning minister, was among a delegation visiting the Gulf country as part of a drive to unlock some of the billions of dollars of investments pledged by Qatar and its energy-rich neighbors last year.
Egypt and Qatar are planning to establish a joint investment fund and are in talks over its size and the economic sectors it will focus on, El-Said said. The two countries also signed an agreement to remove double taxation on income, as well as memorandums of understanding in the health and housing sectors.
