By: Abdallah Beder

Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian government will provide EGP 5 billion to settle debts of public sector companies through an agreement with the Ministry of Finance, Minister of Public Business Sector, Hisham Tawfik, said on Monday.

He noted that settling EGP 33 billion of the debts has been completed, as part of the total EGP 40 billion allocated amount.

Tawfik added, during Hapi Conference, that the public business sector ministry is negotiating with Egyptian and foreign investors to set up units for manufacturing raw chemical materials that are used in the pharmaceutical industry. The facilities will be built on a land plot affiliated to El Nasr Pharmaceutical Chemicals Company. The ministry aims to produce 10 to 15 of the active raw materials to compete globally with China and India.

The ministry also plans to assemble 25,000 electric cars in cooperation with Chinese state-owned Dongfeng Motor, with an intention to increase the production volume to 50,000.