How Egypt plans to boost its 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.

The presidency’s announcement was welcomed by investors but raised concerns among those who oppose the privatization of the public sector.

Salah El Din Fehmi, head of the economics department at Al-Azhar University, commented on the issue, stating that the presidency took this step in an attempt to develop these successful companies and banks, attract new investments and create a community partnership between the state and individuals.