Egypt eyes extra EGP 70 billion from privatization in FY2023/2024

Ahram Online , Wednesday 8 Nov 2023

Egypt seeks to collect additional revenue of EGP 70 billion ($2.27 billion) from its privatization programme during the fiscal year (FY) 2023/2024, according to a recent book released by the Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) on Wednesday.

File Photo: The Egyptian pound held steady against the dollar at an official foreign currency auctio
File Photo: The Egyptian pound held steady against the dollar at an official foreign currency auction on Sunday and on the black market, with traders limiting their transactions to regular clients after the central bank began cracking down on unofficial trading. (Reuters)
 

The book noted that the Egyptian government plans to collect EGP 4.349 trillion in revenue in FY2023/2024, including EGP 1.53 trillion from taxes and EGP 2.14 trillion from loans, bonds, and treasury bills.

The government has secured around $99 billion in FY2022/2023 from different streams, including exports, tourism receipts, Suez Canal revenues, foreign direct investments, and remittances, according to the book.

The government collected $5 billion from offering stakes in 13 companies between March 2022 and July 2023 and is planning to attract an additional $5 billion from the offering of power plants and state-owned companies from October 2023 until the end of June 2024.

This comes under the State Ownership Policy Document; a roadmap that was launched in December 2022 to expand the presence of the private sector in the Egyptian economy.

A list of 32 companies the government intends to sell stakes from over the next year was released in February 2023.

Three companies were added to this list later this year, including Eastern Company, Al-Ezz Dekhila, and Telecom Egypt

The privatization programme is part of Egypt's commitments under its $3 billion loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

However, the IMF loan deal is currently facing challenges with the first review, originally scheduled to be completed on 15 March, not yet conducted.

Short link: