Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian government has delayed its plans to sell stakes in state-owned companies until further notice due to the current “unfavorable” market conditions, the public business sector minister Hesham Tawfik told Bloomberg in a phone interview.

The date for resuming the programme has not been disclosed.

The government cancelled its plan for offering a stake with management rights in Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development to investors.

Instead, a new board has been appointed to redraft its strategy to revive the company before “thinking again” about offering a partial stake to investors, Tawfik pointed out.

In March, the Egyptian government launched the first phase of the IPO programme by offering an additional stake of 4.5% in tobacco producer Eastern Co.

In addition, the government delayed its plans to sell a 20-30% stake in Banque du Caire in an initial public offering (IPO) which was slated to be in April due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.