CAIRO, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Egypt will soon offer stakes in a number of military-owned companies on the stock exchange to boost private sector's involvement in the economy, said Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Wednesday.

Madbouly noted that the stakes will be offered as per an agreement signed earlier on Wednesday between the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, the National Service Projects Organization affiliated with the Armed Forces, several investment banks, and consulting firms, the cabinet said in a statement.

Among the military-affiliated companies to be offered are gas station operators Wataniya and Chillout, bottled water company Safi, Silo Foods, and the National Company for Roads Building and Development, according to the prime minister.

"We will begin offering a number of these companies, as we promised, during this year, and we will complete the rest in 2026," Madbouly told a weekly press conference following a cabinet meeting. "All of this is part of the state's exit strategy and the process of offering and maximizing the benefits of state assets," he added.

With this step, Egypt aims to fulfill the requirements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase the private sector's involvement in the economy.

Last week, Egypt received a 1.2-billion-U.S.-dollar loan tranche from the IMF following the fund's approval of the fourth review of the country's economic reform program.

The disbursement is part of an expanded 8-billion-dollar Extended Fund Facility agreed in March 2024, which augmented an original 3-billion-dollar, 46-month program approved in late 2022 to support Egypt's reforms.

Facing a persistent foreign currency shortage and high debt levels, the North African nation has implemented austerity measures, including currency devaluations and interest rate hikes, to comply with IMF requirements. Enditem

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