Today, Wednesday, the Egyptian government will begin procedures for offering two companies owned by the Armed Forces for private investment. Within the framework of government efforts to provide the necessary liquidity of foreign exchange.
The government announced the offering of “Safi” for water and “Watania” for petroleum products to investors, without clarifying the size of the shares that will be offered for sale or revealing any financial details of these two companies.
A spokesman for the Council of Ministers had said, a few days ago, that the offering advisor would communicate with investors to make available the data of the two companies with the aim of attracting investors from the local or foreign private sector.
The government plans to offer 32 state-owned companies on the stock exchange or through offering them to a strategic investor over the course of the current year.
The Egyptian state treasury suffers from a clear shortage of foreign currency, in addition to a high inflation rate that exceeded 30 percent.
Egypt recently obtained a new loan from the International Monetary Fund worth three billion dollars, and has already received its first tranches, which is the fourth loan that the country has obtained from the Fund since 2016.
The Fund stipulated reducing the role of the army in the Egyptian economy and making room for the private sector.
The armed forces have a clear economic activity that covers almost all aspects of life, including food companies, hotels, restaurants and gas stations.
There are no figures that reveal the size of the army’s economic activity in Egypt.
In recent months, investors in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have acquired stakes in several Egyptian companies in various sectors.
Experts expect an increase in the percentage of Gulf acquisition of Egyptian assets in light of the continuing crisis of foreign exchange shortage.
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