President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has signed a law aimed at removing long-standing legal obstacles to the sale of state-owned companies and reviving Egypt’s faltering privatization program.
Law No. 170 of 2025 repeals Article 27 of a decades-old statute that prohibited public bodies and state-owned banks from trading shares in public-sector firms except among themselves.
This technical but significant amendment clears a path for more dynamic ownership transfers, which the IMF has long demanded as part of Egypt’s broader structural reform agenda.
The new legislation also mandates the creation of a dedicated unit under the Cabinet to oversee state ownership. The State-Owned Enterprises Unit will be charged with evaluating which assets the state should retain, devising exit strategies, and identifying labor surpluses, all while minimizing fiscal costs.
The change comes amid mounting pressure on Egypt to generate foreign currency and reduce its outsized state footprint in the economy.
In its latest review of Egypt’s $3 billion loan agreement, the IMF criticized Cairo for dragging its feet on asset sales. Since October 2023, only two minor transactions have gone through, despite regular promises of new offerings—including unprecedented pledges to divest stakes in military-owned companies.
“This law is overdue,” said MP Abdel Moneim Imam, secretary of the Parliament’s Budget and Planning Committee, in earlier remarks to Al Manassa. “The government reminds me of the tortoise and hare story from our childhood.”
The law applies to firms controlled by the central government, local authorities and other entities with independent budgets. It aligns with Egypt’s 2022 “State Ownership Policy Document,” which laid out sectors from which the government intends to withdraw to give the private sector more room to grow.
Whether this legal adjustment marks the start of a serious privatization push, or simply another policy gesture without teeth, remains to be seen.
