The government has cancelled its controversial privatization program, ordering the formation of a committee which will be charged with reviewing the contracts of all companies that had been previously privatized, said Deputy Prime Minister Ali al-Selmy, adding that the Ministry of Investment itself has been abolished. Selmy, who currently supervises the public business sector, said, “There will be no investment ministry or representative minister in the government following the new reshuffle.” "The unfair privatization program will be cancelled and more attention will be paid the public sector and its 147 companies,” he told Al-Masry Al Youm, “considering that it has gone through a phase of gross negligence, despite the competencies and resources it possesses." "Enough with privatization, especially now after the end of a former regime that aimed to liquidate the public sector, in spite of its importance to the lower and middle classes,” Selmy went on. “A committee of leaders and experts in the public sector will be formed to review company sale contracts signed during the Mubarak regime,” he said. “This will help us to achieve a civilized recovery of companies whose privatization either involved the squandering of public money or was marred by corruption.” Translated from the Arabic Edition
