Egypt’s privatization plans stall despite growing buzz
Only a fraction of the targeted sales to Gulf investors have materialized over the last year, largely due to a general lack of agreement and volatility of the Egyptian economy
CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's visit to Saudi Arabia this week, where he met with the kingdom’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, ended without any major announcements. But it came at a time when Egypt is battling a deep economic crisis while its Gulf allies have grown increasingly reluctant to offer support without conditions.
In the document accompanying the $3 billion agreement that Egypt and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) signed in December 2022, Cairo stated that it had identified a group of state-owned enterprises from whose stake sale it hoped to raise $2.5 billion by June. The funds would be allocated to the country’s $5 billion financing gap.
