Will Telecom Egypt stake sale help country achieve IMF reforms?
An expert said it was "unclear” whether the sale helped solve Egypt’s “key problem” of accessing hard currency.
On Sunday, the Egyptian Finance Ministry announced the sale of a 9.5% stake in the North African country’s state-owned telecoms company for 3.75 billion Egyptian pounds ($121.4 million) — a move signaling that the government is moving forward with its national privatization program.
Some 162.2 million shares in Telecom Egypt were sold at 23.11 Egyptian pounds ($0.75) each in a subscription that was 3.11 times oversubscribed, the ministry said. Another 0.5% of the shares are being offered to Telecom Egypt staff until May 25.
The sale is not a privatization, as the government will still own 70% of the company. The ministry did not say what proportion of shares were sold domestically and which were sold to international buyers.
Egypt’s national debt has been ballooning — $224.79 billion in 2022, up from $193.94 billion the previous year. The Ukraine war sent inflation sky-high and increased the cost of importing essential grains and fertilizers, causing foreign investors to flee and the Egyptian pound to tank by around 50% against the US dollar.
