EgyptAir Holding Company will not be privatised, said CEO

Safwat Mossallam, the chairman and CEO of the EgyptAir Holding Company said the company will not be privatised as part of economic reforms the government will undertake later this year, reports ch-aviation.
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Mossallam said there were no current plans to publicly list the EgyptAir Holding Company as there were for several other state-owned enterprises.

Egypt is seeking to raise a USD21 billion loan package from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the African Development Bank (AfDB), as well as through international sovereign bond issuance, to help kick start an economy currently struggling with a scarcity of US dollars as well as low investor confidence.

Preliminary talks with the IMF over a three-year USD12 billion loan have reportedly resulted in a tentative agreement but as with any IMF loan, it is presumed austerity, privatization, subsidy reduction, and higher taxation commitments will be required before any funding is disbursed.

As such, given its USD1 billion in total losses accumulated since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising and its dependency on government for assistance, the future of the EgyptAir Holding Co. is expected to feature, at some point, in the ensuing talks.

 

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