Egyptian authorities are working on a facelift of the country’s capital market in a bid to lure more foreign portfolios. On March 17, the Financial Regulatory Authority approved a contract and statutes of a company to be charged with running the country’s first futures market, opening the way for trading in commodities through the Egyptian Exchange.

Economists say the futures contract exchange will enhance the competitiveness of the Egyptian market in general, paving the way for the launch of a number of futures contracts and commodity exchanges, such as for natural gas, cotton, flour and corn.

“We have laid the foundation for futures, options and commodities contracts,” Sherif Samy, former chairman of the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), told Al-Monitor. “However, these measures won’t necessarily bring in all of this the next day. This will take time. I think stock market index futures will be easier to begin with. The authorities should first decide on which commodities to be launched on the options market.”

The FRA, which will oversee the new exchange, released a statement on March 17 announcing that it has set the company’s issued and paid-in capital at 20 million Egyptian pounds ($1.12 million) and will form a management board of 7 to 11 directors. “The futures exchange is aimed at launching an electronic trading platform through which future contracts are traded deriving their values ​​from price indices or listed securities on the stock exchange,” the statement said.