Work will continue as usual at the Ministry of Investment until a new replacement to the Minister of Trade, who is temporarily also overseeing the investment ministry, has been selected, Al-Ahram reported. Minister of Trade Rachid Mohamed Rachid told the state-run paper that this is expected to take place over the coming weeks; adding during the transitional period, all companies under the investment ministry's supervision will continue to operate normally and all employees' rights will be protected to avoid disruption in market stability. Rachid highlighted the importance of gearing up efforts of public sector companies' management toward increasing profitability and internal restructuring of their respective companies, adding that future consolidations amongst public sector companies would then produce between 20 to 30 profitable entities. It was also reiterated that a minimum government holding in public sector companies needs to be set, although Rachid brushed away concerns that this was a signal that the government was selling or disposing of any public sector company, Beltone Financial reported.
