Egypt will list shares of 32 state-owned companies in the for strategic investors to buy within one year as a two-year-long economic crisis continues in the country.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly elaborated to reporters during a press conference held after the weekly cabinet meeting Wednesday evening that the 32 companies operate in 18 fields: energy, transport, electricity and insurance; among them are three banks and two military-owned firms.
The banks are , and . The two army-run companies are Safi, which produces bottled mineral water, and, a nationwide chain of petrol stations.
The companies are 12 more than what he earlier last week that would be available in initial public offerings (IPOs).
IPOs of at least 25 per cent of these firms will be listed in the next six months, according to the Egyptian prime minister.
Madbouly's announcement came a day after Moody's Investors Service downgraded Egypt's credit rating from B2 to B3, pushing the North African country further into junk bond or non-investment grade territory, New York-based Forbes .
Egypt's foreign debt reached as much as US$155 billion by September 2022.
On Thursday, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said in an official statement that Egypt witnessed the highest inflation rate in five years.
The Egyptian economy has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent Ukrainian-Russian war, factors that further disrupted global markets and hiked oil and food prices worldwide.