In a cabinet meeting earlier Tuesday, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that Egypt seeks to put forward "as many public companies as possible" on the Egyptian bourse during the current year.

Madboly said he himself will follow up on the plan as the government looks to lure more foreign investments, and also enhance the trust of foreign investors in the Egyptian investment climate, according to a cabinet statement released following the meeting.

The step aims to enhance the role of the stock market, and revive the capital flow and trading in the EGX, in addition to raise the value of market capitalization so as to be more attractive to investors, he asserted.

During the meeting, Ayman Soliman, CEO of Egypt’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), said that a number of companies affiliated with the Egyptian Armed Forces' National Service Projects Organization (NSPO) will be offered to local and foreign investors in accordance with conditions and regulations that ensure achieving the highest returns for Egypt, according to the cabinet statement.

In October 2019, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said the companies owned and operated by the Armed Forces should be listed on the stock exchange.

The SWF, established in 2018, aims to attract private investments to Egypt and promote co-investment in state-owned assets to maximise their value and efficiency.

In March 2019, Egypt offered the first state-owned company to be listed on the EGX under the IPO programme.

The offering included a 4.5 percent of shares of tobacco monopoly Eastern Company on the EGX, with a total value of EGP 1.7 billion pounds ($99 million). But the programme paused due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said said on 8 September 2021 that the government was expected to resume the stalled IPO programme before the end of 2021.

In October 2021, Egyptian state-owned payments firm e-finance for Digital and Financial Investments made its debut on the stock market under the IPO programme.

In late December 2021, the Egyptian cabinet said the country was planning to list shares of the three power plants it has built in partnership with Germany's Siemens on the stock exchange.

Tuesday's meeting tackled the offerings procedures and expected shares of companies planned to be listed by mid-2022, with Madbouly stressing that the companies that will be offered in the bourse are "promising."

The offerings are expected to attract a broad segment of investors as was the case in e-finance, Madbouly noted.