Egypt’s path to a private-led investment landscape

Gezira island on the Nile at sunset, exclusive aerial view of Cairo, Egypt. Getty Images Image for illustrative purpose
Getty Images/Getty Images

Arab Finance: Recently, the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation announced the government’s investment plan for the upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2025/26. The plan affirmed the government’s roadmap to boost private sector contribution to investments.

Since the approval of the $3 billion IMF loan, under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), in December 2022, followed by the extension to $8 billion in March 2024, Egypt has been committed to lower the state’s footprint in the economy and open more space for private sector participation.

In this Factsheet, we will dig deeper to review the progress in the government’s plan to limit its public investments to increase private sector investments.

Egypt has set its plan to restructure the economy by announcing the State Ownership Policy (SOP). The SOP drew a map for the state’s exile plan from various economic sectors.
This included a complete withdrawal from sectors such as field crops, desalination plants, river transport services, and commercial insurance. In addition, the state will reduce its presence without completely withdrawing in sectors like port and railway, and water treatment plants.
In January 2024, the government announced cutting down the public investments plan for FY2023/24 by 15%. The Cabinet decided to postpone working on new projects until the end of the FY, while prioritizing concluding projects with completion rates of at least 70%.
By the end of FY2023/24, the total implemented investments in Egypt recorded EGP 1.62 trillion, representing 13% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). 57% of the investments were public, while 43% were private. The share of each sector did not change compared to the previous FY2022/23.
In FY2023/24, the state’s investments were mainly focused on the transportation and storage sector with EGP 249 billion or 27% of its investments, electricity with EGP 167 billion (18.1%) , and other services with EGP 66.4 billion (7.2%).
Private sector investments were mainly directed to the transportation and storage sector with EGP 60.7 billion or 8.7% of its investments, construction and building with EGP 58.7 billion (8.4%), and real estate with EGP 58.1 billion (8.3%).
As for the ongoing FY2024/25, the government projected that the total implemented investments will record EGP 2.6 trillion, representing 15% of the GDP.
Affirming its commitments to reduce the state’s footprint in the economy, the Egyptian government announced that the total planned investments for FY2025/26 are EGP 3.5 trillion, representing 17.1% of the GDP. These investments will be dominated by the private sector with EGP 1.94 trillion or 62.7% share. On the other hand, the public investments are planned to record EGP 1.16 trillion, accounting for 37.3% of the total planned investments.

Amina Hussein, Arab Finance

April 21, 2025

PHOTO
Gezira island on the Nile at sunset, exclusive aerial view of Cairo, Egypt. Getty Images Image for illustrative purpose

Private sector investments were mainly directed to the transportation and storage sector with EGP 60.7 billion or 8.7% of its investments, construction and building with EGP 58.7 billion (8.4%), and real estate with EGP 58.1 billion (8.3%)

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