● The mission begins its work by holding a workshop at the Ministry of International Cooperation to discuss the government’s vision regarding the state ownership policy document and the general features of the proposed technical cooperation program.
Yesterday, the World Bank mission began with visiting Egypt to hold several meetings with government agencies to discuss aspects of technical cooperation with the government regarding the implementation of the state ownership policy document and benefiting from the best international practices in managing state-owned assets. The mission’s work continues until the end of this week.
The World Bank mission began its work by holding a workshop at the Ministry of International Cooperation, to discuss and discuss the most important general features to enhance joint efforts with the World Bank to benefit from the best international practices in managing state-owned assets in a way that maximizes the benefit from those assets, in light of the technical support efforts provided by the World Bank. In this context, they started discussing the Egyptian government’s vision regarding implementing the state ownership policy document and enhancing the role of the private sector, as well as identifying the best financing tools and programs provided by the World Bank in this regard.
The workshop witnessed the presence of Stephane Gumpert, World Bank Regional Director for Egypt, Djibouti and Yemen, Mark Ahern, Chief Economist at the World Bank’s country office in Egypt, along with Mahmoud Al-Sakka, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Bidding Affairs, in addition to representatives of several Egyptian ministries and agencies like the Information and Decision Support Center, the Ministries of Finance, Justice, the Public Business Sector, Electricity, and the Competition Protection Authority.
The mission also held a workshop at the Ministry of Finance on the policy of distributing profits to state-owned enterprises and its importance in implementing the policy of state ownership, where the most important economic indicators of the Egyptian economy were presented, which included non-tax revenues from state-owned companies, as well as one of the international experiences in implementing the policy of distributing profits and achieving returns in many different state sectors, and how to maximize non-tax revenues from state-owned companies and the role of the Ministry of Finance in how to reinvest profits for those companies.
The mission is scheduled to hold several technical meetings and workshops with relevant government agencies, including the Information and Decision Support Center. This comes within the framework of the Egyptian state’s directions to empower the private sector and enhance its role in achieving comprehensive development.
The program being discussed with the World Bank complements the role played by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as strategic advisor to the government’s Asset Monetization Program, which aims to stimulate efforts to attract investments, enhance technical cooperation and knowledge to manage state-owned assets, expand the base of private sector participation in development, raise economic growth rates, and provide various opportunities.
Egypt is one of the founding countries of the World Bank, and the third largest shareholder in the Middle East and North Africa region. The World Bank is one of Egypt's most important development partners, as it began supporting the development program in 1959. Since then, the World Bank has financed 175 projects, with a total of nearly $26 billion in many important sectors, including infrastructure, human capital, and public sector reforms, providing services and developing the private sector.
In line with the Government of Egypt’s vision and efforts to empower the private sector and expand the base of its participation in achieving development, the Ministry of International Cooperation works to enhance investments for the private sector in various priority areas of development and to promote green financing, through cooperation with institutions affiliated with the World Bank, namely the IFC. The IFC’s total investments in the private sector in Egypt during the period from 2020 to 2023 amounted to about $2.46 billion, including $1.7 billion in current portfolios, as well as the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), whose investments amounted to $470 million in the form of guarantees for 17 ongoing projects in the infrastructure, manufacturing, renewable energy sectors, among others.
For more information:
The 2023 Annual Report: https://moic.gov.eg/page/annual-report-2023
The Hafiz platform: https://privatesector.moic.gov.eg/?lang=ar