Egypt has agreed to a fast-tracked timeline to sell stakes in 11 state-owned companies by March 2026, under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to unlock delayed bailout funds, according to a finance ministry source familiar with the negotiation proceedings who spoke to Al Manassa.
The agreement was finalized with the IMF’s technical mission, currently in Cairo for the fifth and sixth reviews of Egypt’s $8 billion loan program. The IMF had withheld the fifth tranche, originally due in July, over Egypt’s failure to meet privatization targets—prompting the fund to merge it with the sixth review.
A source at the Ministry of Finance, speaking on condition of anonymity, had previously told Al Manassa that the government will begin by offering shares in three military-owned companies—Wataniya, Safi, and Chill Out—starting February 2026.
In March and April, the government is expected to move forward with selling further stakes in the Gabal El-Zeit wind power station, the National Company for Roads Construction and Development, Silo Foods Industries, Alamal Alsharif Plastics, Misr Pharmaceutical Industries, Speed Medical. The offer will also include state-held shares in Banque du Caire and Bank of Alexandria.
Egypt’s privatization push began in March 2023, with a goal of selling stakes in 40 public companies across 18 sectors by March 2024. The deadline was later extended to December 2024.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly previously announced that the state completed 21 deals worth $6 billion, excluding the still-pending Ras El-Hekma mega-deal.
The IMF has repeatedly demanded that Egypt scale back the military and state’s role in the economy, calling for an expanded role for the private sector. The same source said the IMF praised Egypt’s recent success in securing foreign investment, particularly land development agreements with Qatari partners in Sila and Alam El-Roum, and welcomed a drop in inflation.
In early November, Prime Minister Madbouly oversaw the signing of a $29.7 billion real estate deal between the New Urban Communities Authority and Qatar’s Diar, to develop coastal land in Alam El-Roum. The agreement includes both cash and in-kind returns to the Egyptian state.
IMF officials confirmed that Egypt’s compliance with its conditions would lead to the release of $2.7 billion in delayed funds—a combined disbursement of the fifth and sixth reviews—by late December or early January, the source explained to Al Manassa.
That payout would also trigger the first installment—$274 million—under the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility, a green funding program through which Egypt can access up to $1.3 billion.
