Egypt to sell assets to attract $40 billion investment

Egypt set up a wide range of state-owned assets on Sunday and will offer them to private investors in order to attract $40 billion investment in next four years. It considers as a part of the government plan to pull out from some economic sectors.

The government had already assigned $9 billion in assets that would monetised and another $15bn that it would quickly begin preparing to offer, Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly declared.

“Those combined are more than the target for the first two years,” he said. Among the assets that would sold on the stock exchange (EGX) by the end of 2022 were shares in 10 state companies and two military companies.

Also, it planned to hike the private investment from 65 percent within three years, Madbouly said.

He added that Egypt will offer a wide array of projects to the private sectors in electric vehicles, data centres, networks for oil and gas and expansion of gas liquefaction plants, communication towers, and wind power. In addition, it will provide renewable energy projects, desalination plants, education and banking assets.

At the end of May, the government will reveal through a document about the sectors that would drag completely or partially, also it will announce the companies would remain the partnership with them, according to Madbouly’s words.

The government started last month to map out a programme to attract $10bn in “private participation” over next four years, upon Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s instructions.