Egypt Seeks Increasing Private Sector Participation in Economic Activities

The Egyptian Finance Minister said his country's economy is one of the few in the world that achieved positive growth rates (Reuters)
The Egyptian Finance Minister said his country's economy is one of the few in the world that achieved positive growth rates (Reuters)
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Egypt Seeks Increasing Private Sector Participation in Economic Activities

The Egyptian Finance Minister said his country's economy is one of the few in the world that achieved positive growth rates (Reuters)
The Egyptian Finance Minister said his country's economy is one of the few in the world that achieved positive growth rates (Reuters)

Egypt has a new document for the state ownership policy, a national strategy aimed at maximizing the participation of the private sector in economic activity, announced Finance Minister Mohamed Maait.

The Minister indicated that this "reassures" local investors, attracts foreign investments, and enhances the confidence of international institutions.

Maait met with representatives of the US Export-Import Bank on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

"Egypt has become more attractive to investments with promising development opportunities based on a supportive and strong infrastructure," said Maait.

He indicated that the country is more capable of absorbing investment activities and spent $400 billion on its development over the past seven years.

The economic plan to recover from the current global crisis includes a package of measures stimulating foreign and local investments, explained the minister.

The US Export-Import Bank can play a pivotal role in promoting economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, said Maait, calling on the Bank to take advantage of investment opportunities, especially in the sectors of energy, petrochemicals, water desalination, medicine, communications, information technology, iron and steel, and transportation and communications.

The Minister hoped the Bank would play a low-cost financing role for green projects, looking forward to a more significant role for international partners in financing development projects, especially green projects in Egypt.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Egypt's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'B+' with a Stable Outlook for the fourth time during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maait said the new ratings show international confidence in Egypt's ability to face global economic challenges.

Maait added that the Egyptian economy is diversified and growing to confirm that it is on the right path, adding that financial and economic reforms made Egypt more solid and coherent in dealing with global crises.

He indicated that his country recorded the highest semi-annual growth rate since the beginning of the millennium at nine percent of GDP between July and December 2021.

The Egyptian economy is one of the few economies that managed to achieve positive growth rates.

He pointed out that the IMF increased its expectations in the World Economic Outlook report for the growth rate of the Egyptian economy from 5.6 to 5.9 percent by the end of June.



Record-Breaking Bitcoin Surges Towards $90,000 on Trump Boost

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference, July 27, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference, July 27, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP)
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Record-Breaking Bitcoin Surges Towards $90,000 on Trump Boost

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference, July 27, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference, July 27, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP)

Bitcoin rallied to the verge of $90,000 on Tuesday, riding a wave of euphoria since the election of Donald Trump as US president on expectations his administration will be crypto friendly.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency has become one of the most eye-catching movers in the week since the election and touched $89,982 - a gain of around 30% since Nov. 5. It was last down 1.4% at $86,730.

Bitcoin is surging along with Elon Musk's automaker Tesla, which is up nearly 40% since voting results rolled in, as investors figure Trump's friends and interests will do well while he is in office.

"The crypto enthusiasts think they have a like-minded incoming president," said Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

"The thing about bitcoin at the end of the day is that there is no valuation anchor to it, it's hard to get a grip on fair value. So when sentiment is very positive, it does get carried away a lot more than other asset classes."

Trump embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet" and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.

It is not clear how or when that could happen, but the possibility drove a speculative surge in crypto mining and trading stocks.

"I think it increases the chances that other nation states buy bitcoin in a bid to front run the US," said Matthew Dibb, chief investment officer at cryptocurrency asset manager Astronaut Capital.

"Additionally, I think it would be a crazy catalyst for the US listed bitcoin miners ... given possibilities of such entities getting nationalized."

Crypto miner Riot Platforms jumped nearly 17% on Wall Street on Monday. Fellow miners MARA Holdings and CleanSpark leapt nearly 30%.

Software company and investor in bitcoin MicroStrategy announced it had spent about $2 billion buying bitcoin between Oct. 31 and Nov. 10. Shares rose 26% on Monday.

"Obviously (it's) a clear Trump trade as he is so supportive of the industry, and this can only mean more demand both for crypto stocks as well as the currencies themselves," Nick Twidale, chief market analyst at ATFX Global in Sydney, said of the bitcoin rally.

"The fact that bitcoin was trading near all-time highs when the election result came through meant that it had clean sky above."

The euphoria extended across the crypto landscape with smaller tokens such as ether and dogecoin surging, although they dipped on Tuesday morning in Europe.

Crypto investors see an end to increased scrutiny under US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler whom Trump has said he will replace. Trump also unveiled a new crypto business, World Liberty Financial, in September.

"What we're seeing isn't just a price milestone; it's a signal that the market is warming to the idea of bitcoin as a more stable, even politically favored, asset," said Justin D'Anethan, head of Asia-Pacific business development at digital assets market maker Keyrock.