Egypt's powerful military companies to go public

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called for listing some military-owned companies in the Egyptian stock market in an effort to increase transparency and enable Egyptians to buy shares in these firms.

“There must be an opportunity for the armed forces companies to be listed in the Egyptian stock market as part of the initial public offerings made for some government companies,” Sisi said in an Oct. 31 speech broadcast from the opening of a military-owned medical gas plant in Giza governorate.

Since the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, a shortage of foreign exchange and the exit of some foreign investors from the country have left Egypt in a severe economic crisis. The weak economic situation has prompted the Egyptian armed forces to get heavily involved in many new projects implemented by the government in such fields as agriculture, industry, infrastructure, roads and construction.

In 2016, Sisi denied that the military had taken control of the local economy through these projects, saying that its participation in the Egyptian economy is limited to 1.5-2%. He reiterated this stance Oct. 31, saying, “When the armed forces play this role, it is not at the expense of the private or civil sector.”