Egypt May Add 8 More State-owned Companies to its IPO Program

Egypt is looking to add eight more state-owned enterprises to its list of 32 companies to be listed under the government’s initial public offering program, according to the Minister of Finance, Mohamed Maait.

The minister made these remarks during his participation in the Financial Sector Conference in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, according to Ahram Online.

The government launched proceedings to offer two military-owned companies, the National Company for Producing and Bottling Water (Safi) and Wataniya Petroleum, starting next Wednesday.

In addition, four enterprises will be available through investment banks in 2023.

Moreover, Maait said the government is targeting $10 billion in net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the FY2022–23. year ending June 30, up from $8.6 billion in the FY 2021–22.

However, the first seven months of the current fiscal year showed signs of improvement. The initial surplus rose to EGP 33.7 bn, up from EGP 15.2 bn in the corresponding course of FY2021/2022, Maait added.

PM follows up on status of “Housing for All Egyptians” initiative

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli has emphasized the necessity of continued follow-up of projects that are being implemented to provide suitable housing units for various segments of citizens nationwide, especially those living on a low income, within the framework of the “Housing for All Egyptians” presidential initiative.

Madbouli made the remarks during his meeting on Monday with Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait and Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities Assem el Gazzar, among other senior officials.

The meeting discussed the status of the “Housing for All Egyptians” initiative.

The meeting also probed means of confronting the rise in prices of building materials especially amid the current global crisis that has cast its shadow over various sectors.

A few days away from the Euromoney Egypt Conference 2022 launch on 7 December in Cairo

The conference will review 2022 as well as the year ahead to get a clear picture of the Egyptian finance and investment narrative

Cairo, Egypt: The 25th edition of the Euromoney Egypt Conference will be held under the auspices of, and opened by, His Excellency Dr. Moustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt. His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Maait, Egypt’s Minister of Finance, will also be participating along with other high-profile local and international speakers such as: H.E. Dr. Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Government of Egypt; Ayman Soliman, Chief Executive Officer, The Sovereign Fund of Egypt; Dr. Mohamed Farid Saleh, Executive Chairman, Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA); and Ahmed Kouchouk, Vice Minister of Finance for Fiscal Policies, Government of Egypt.

Delegates will have the opportunity to meet with and hear from senior representatives from the Egyptian Government, as well as local and international investors, financiers, and business leaders.

The conference will review 2022 as well as the year ahead to get a clear picture of the Egyptian finance and investment narrative and ask the questions:

  • Is the country still fragile or has the freeing of the Egyptian pound been a lasting turning point? The markets seem to think so. But can this trend continue and what else lies ahead for this pivotal Arab nation?
  • Can Egypt’s shift towards sustainability and low carbon energy be maintained and what opportunities does this present for global capital? All these key questions will be answered and many more. This event provides a significant opportunity to stay ahead of the curve in what is going to be a roller-coaster year in the global economy.

The lead sponsors of the conference are Mashreq Bank and Standard Chartered. The co-sponsor is Citibank. Find out more through the conference website, where you can view the full agenda:  https://events.euromoney.com/egypt2022

ECEA launches in grand ceremony held at the new administrative capital

In presence of ministries of finance, public business sector

  • Mohamed Maait: “ECEA is a fresh platform for an effective and sustainable dialogue between business communities in the two countries”
  • Amr Moussa : “ECEA targets expanding of AI and tech industries investments in Egypt”
  • Magd El-Din El-Manzalawy: :We aim at supporting the Egyptian-Chinese relations, stimulating venture and economic bilateral cooperation”

Cairo: In line with Egypt’s strategy that focuses on boosting the national economy and fostering foreign investments in the country, a ceremony organised on Sunday at the New Administrative Capital to launch the Egyptian-Chinese Entrepreneurs Association (ECEA) in the presence of Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait and Minister of Public Business Sector Mahmoud Esmat, the Former Secretary General of the Arab League and the honoury President of ECEA Amre Moussa, the CEO of the Egyptian Sovereign Fund (TESF) Ayman Soliman, the Head of ECEA’s Board of Trustees Magd El-Din El-Manzalawy, President of ECEA Omar Wang and the ECEA’s Secretary General Mohamed Alaa alongside with a bunch of association heads, parliament members, businessmen.

Within his speech during the event, Minister of finance Mohamed Maait stated that ECEA is a fresh platform for an effective and sustainable dialogue between the business communities in the two countries that aims at exploring more of investment opportunities in areas of priority to the state and that are closely related to the country’s sustainable development goals agenda.

That includes the promising opportunities in field of green transition, renewables, scientific research. Pharma industries technologies as well as the industrial techniques in a way that is consistent with the presidential directives to localise the advanced technologies in a range of economic sectors, according to Maait.

The minister also asserted the importance of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) in terms of reinforcing China’s Silk Road Initiative, particularly through the Egyptian Chinese Zone for Economic and Trade Cooperation, thus contributing to boosting utilising the Suez Canal strategic zone as a logistic-economic hub.

“The Government of Egypt, in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in Egypt, was eager to establish the ECEA with an aim of creating a platform for a continuous connection in order to discussing avenues of a fruitful and constructive cooperation in line with the increasing keenness from the two sides to boost the strategic partnership. Through launching ECEA, we are looking forward to jointly working to eliminate any kind of investment obstacles and attracting more of Chinese investments into the Egyptian market”, said Maait.

For his part, Former Secretary General of the Arab League and the Honoury President of ECEA Amre Moussa noted that the association has a mission of pushing forward the relation between the two countries in consistent with the state’s aspiration in the 21 century, as well as enhancing the cooperation between China and Egypt, especially amid the ongoing economic, health and political global challenges.

Moussa also said that investments between the two countries should support the new trends in the industries of tech, digital, artificial Intelligence (AI) and the environment, adding that Silk Road Initiative related projects between China and the Arab countries has shifted the cooperation mindset from colonial thinking into economic and cooperative one and that could support the cooperation between the countries going forward.

CEO of TESF Ayman Soliman stressed that the fund supports the efforts of attracting more investments into the Egyptian market across various sectors, especially the industrial and manufacturing ones, chiefly food processing as Egypt has a huge agricultural production that need more investments to localise its related technologies.

On his side, Head of ECEA’s Board of Trustees Magd El-Din El-Manzalawy welcomed the attendees, noting that Egyptian-Chinese ties have witnessed a notable development in all sectors and proved its ability to keep pace with the international and regional transformations and changes.

He added that ECEA is ready to enhance the bilateral relations and the current cooperation in the sake of the two parties.

“ECEA targets seizing the ongoing robust ties between the two countries to improve the collaboration between the business communities between the two countries, particularly under the Silk Road initiative, and create a good climate for Chinese investments, as well as benefitting from these relations in boosting the Chinese industries in the Egyptian market and achieving Egypt’s vision and strategy of localising industries of priority”, he explained.

ECEA is a platform meant to insure an effective level of partnerships between Egypt and China with an aim to raise the economic and cultural relations between the two countries.

It also targets increasing the Chinese investments in the Egyptian market and helping the Chinese companies to do its work.

ECEA is established in accordance with the Egyptian regulations. Egypt’s Ministry of Social Solidarity greenlights ECEA establishment on 22 February 2022 as an international and social entity with a legal identity.