Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Rania Al Mashat said her ministry is working on stimulating the private sector through a number of programs, projects, and policies.
Mashat was speaking during a meeting with Board Chairman of AYADY for Investment and Development, former minister of investment Osama Saleh, in the presence of Vice Chairman of the National Investment Bank (NIB) Ashraf Negm.
Mashat said the ministry is currently working on applying the principles of governance on investment spending to serve the country’s priorities to and enable the private sector spearhead development efforts.
She said the ministry had launched the “Hafez” platform to provide financial and technical support to the private sector, describing the platform as a comprehensive initiative that offers various financial and non-financial services, technical support, and consultations made available by international partners to private sector companies, including large, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or start-ups.
Mashat commended the active role played by AYADY, an NIB-affiliate, to promote public-private partnership and generating investments in priority sectors to maximize return on state-owned assets and stimulate comprehensive and sustainable development efforts.
She noted that empowering the private sector and increasing its participation in the Egyptian economy is a key objective of the government’s work program, highlighting the government’s commitment to creating an attractive business environment, while adopting policies and programs aimed at luring more local and foreign investments.
Reviewing the investment portfolio of AYADY, which is 75 per cent owned by the National Investment Bank, Saleh said the company had managed to inject influential investments in many sectors since its establishment in 2015, and also established a group of companies in which the private sector has a majority stake in non-banking finance and other sectors.
He also touched on the company’s success in attracting foreign investments as well as contributions from international financial institutions.
He said the company seeks to increase the value of its investment portfolio and increase contributions with the private sector, in order to attract more local and foreign investments and promote development efforts in priority sectors that create job opportunities and achieve economic development in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030.
Established in 2015 in collaboration between the Ministry of Planning and other quasi-government institutions as a private investment entity, AYADY aspires to encourage investments and promote development in Egypt through providing access to capital to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
