How Egypt plans to boost its stock exchange
The Egyptian government's decision to sell shares of some state-owned banks and companies is drawing both praise and criticism.
CAIRO — In an effort to shore up its economy, Egypt plans to list shares of some government-owned banks and companies on its ailing stock exchange.
Alaa Youssef, spokesman for the Egyptian presidency, announced Jan. 19 that shares in “successful” state-owned companies and banks will be listed. The statement followed a meeting between President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the prime minister, the governor of the Central Bank, and the ministers of industry and finance to discuss “the decline of the Egyptian stock market indexes.”
The stock exchange lost $5.6 billion in value in just the first 19 days of 2016.
The Egyptian state owns three of the country’s largest banks either fully or partially, including the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr, along with a large number of companies — most notably Arab Contractors and ENPPI, an engineering firm serving the petrochemical and petroleum industries.
