Egypt plans to liquidate five state-owned companies “in the near future” after all efforts to end their losses have failed, and will announce the names in December, Minister of the Public Business Sector Hisham Tawfik revealed on Tuesday.
Tawfik made the comments at a monthly luncheon event organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt.
In January, the government liquidated the iconic Egyptian Iron and Steel Company and divided into two new companies on the back of losses exceeding EGP 9 billion.
The minister said that Egypt’s public sector includes 40 companies, explaining that the ministry manages eight holding companies, 119 subsidiaries, and 299 join ventures operating across 16 sectors.
Tawfik said that the total losses of state-owned enterprises have reached EGP 44 billion, which was the key driver behind the launching of an integrated reform programme a few years ago to improve the performance of the sector and realise its potential.
The minister explained that the total debt of the public sector companies had reached EGP 42.1 billion, which were owed to the tax authority, the Social Insurance Authority, the ministries of petroleum and electricity, and the National Investment Bank.
The ministry has so far managed to repay about EGP 34 billion of this sum, Tawfik said.
Tawfik also told the chamber that ministry is currently preparing a promotional campaign for Egyptian cotton in the countries that Egypt is targeting for export.
He added that Gossor company – previously Al-Nasr for Import and Export – aims to bring Egyptian products to the whole world instead of focusing only on the African market.
The minister also announced at the luncheon that the state-owned Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development is planned to go public under the state’s initial public offering programme before the end of FY2021/2022 with a total value of EGP 1.5 billion.
The minister also announced that Egypt is developing an electric vehicle model that can be exported to neighbouring countries.
“We will launch this model by the end of 2022. However, we are ending the cooperation with the Chinese side in developing the model due to financial issues, and we are considering alternative investors.”
The minister reported that 3,000 public electric charging stations will be built in three governorates across Egypt, and called on the private sector to submit their offers to the ministry to operate and manage these stations.
“The ministry is open to all serious ideas and proposals regarding tapping the opportunities it is offering on all levels,” Tawfik told the chamber.