Broad consultations with public companies, Arab Contractors to be listed on stock market: EGX head

We are aiming for 4.5% economic growth, 10.5% deficit and unemployment below 12% by fiscal year-end, says Mehleb

The Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) received a request from Roiaa Real Estate Investment to gain a listing on the EGX, according to the stock exchange's Chairman, Mohamed Omran.
The request for listing came alongside current consultations with Arab Contractors Company officials, and a large number of state-owned companies to join the EGX, Omran added.
During the Second Investment Summit 2015, Omran predicted that within the current year, the EGX will witness an unprecedented boom in multiple companies seeking to list. He confirmed that the bet this year will be upon state-owned companies.
Omran noted that the EGX has contributed about EGP 100bn as capital to be pumped into the listed companies in order to fund expansions over the past 10 years.
The EGX will witness a boom in the volume and values of trading in a number of new private and public companies that will be listed within the upcoming phase, according to Omran.
"The current Egyptian economic indicators make us more optimistic about the future, and Egypt is still suffering a crisis to provide hard currency and to fight against bureaucracy, and we are working to resolve them," said Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb.
The Egyptian economy's growth within the first half of the current fiscal year to 5.6% will make it easier to reach the goal of raising economic growth to above 4%. Mehleb added that it will also help in reducing unemployment to below 12% by the end of the current fiscal year.
The government is expected to issue the executive regulations of the investment law within the next few days. This will include the facilitation of allocating lands and expediting the entry and exit from the market.
The government is unwilling to sell any shares of state-owned companies, but it will restructure them and raise their capital in the stock exchange.
Minister of Investment Ashraf Salman expected growth rates to reach 4.5% and the deficit to reach about 10.5% during the current fiscal year.
The stock market, so far, does not reflect the reality of economic activity in Egypt, because of the limited number of listed companies, compared to the total number of established companies in Egypt, said Salman.
The current decline in the stock market does not express pessimistic expectations about the growth of the economy; rather it reflects the existence of obstacles and impediments in the economy that must be overcome such as bureaucracy, slow growth, as well as uniting the authority of land allocation, according to Salman.
The new government projects require huge, non-traditional funding, said Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority Chairman Sherif Sami, referring to the money market. He explained that during the first four months of this year, we have witnessed an increase in capital funds and the establishment of companies for about EGP 21.5bn.
He also said that he will suggest the possibility of presenting pre-launch covered bonds to the Salman. This will allow large companies and government agencies to finance their expansions, as well as new mechanisms to facilitate funding to small companies in order to expand.