The Facts
Egyptian PM Mostafa Madbouly announced on Tuesday that Egypt will sell off $1.9B worth of stakes in state-owned companies in a move that promises to bolster Egypt’s private sector and fix its ailing economy.
Madbouly said that the government received $1.65B and the equivalent of $250M in Egyptian pounds in the sales, including an unspecified amount of shares in the country’s state-owned communications company, Telecom Egypt.
The Spin
Narrative A
Privatization will be one of the leading methods that Egypt will use to extricate itself from its current economic difficulties. The influx of much-needed capital following the sale of state-owned assets will bolster the economy and demonstrate to the international community that Egypt is more than willing to change how it has operated the economy and ensure domestic stability.
Narrative B
Besides the fact that Egypt is a repressive dictatorship under Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, it's poorly run, and its economic prospects are only going down. Inflation has been raging as food prices skyrocket. Sisi has been making desperate moves to fix the nightmare he has created, such as looking for foreign investment. However, the writing is on the wall: the future of Egypt under Sisi isn't bright, especially given the growing frustration of the Gulf states.