Sawiris criticizes crowding-out of the private sector: Naguib Sawiris criticized the involvement of state- and military-owned firms in a number of key economic projects. Sawiris reportedly made the remarks in an interview with DPA picked up by Gulf Times. “We need to reduce the government’s interference in business and we need to encourage the private sector. We still have a lot of problems,” Sawiris said. He was particularly critical of the involvement of state firms in construction and housing, saying that “there are private construction companies for [these projects].”

Private livestock importers have also been pushed out of the market since the EGP float, making the ministries of supply, agriculture and defense now “Egypt’s largest importers of live cattle and frozen beef,” according to a report from the US Agriculture Department’s foreign service (pdf). The report expects local beef production to rise moderately next year as the expanding population generates increased demand.