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Thursday, 2 February 2023

Madbouly’s big presser steals the show

The privatization program, a lifeline for real estate developers, and golden licenses to industry dominated the conversation on last night’s talk shows, as the pundits digested the torrent of news unleashed by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly at his post-cabinet meeting presser. We have the full story on all the PM’s policy announcements in the newswell, above.

Thumbs up from the real estate sector: A move to consider real estate projects complete when they are 85% finished got cheers from some in the industry. Basel Shoeira, head of the real estate development chamber at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, described the decision as a “positive step” to Salet El Tahrir (watch, runtime: 13:55.) “More is needed but this is a first step that shows an appreciation of the challenges faced by the sector,” he said.

What more? “What is needed is that the government addresses [high] interest rates and fines imposed on real estate developers on deadline extensions [for projects],” he said.

There were warm words on how golden licenses will help cut red tape from Ali Hamza, vice chairman of the Egyptian Federation of Investors Associations (EFIA) told Masa’a DMC (watch, runtime: 5:39.)

Fresh incentives for industrial players? The government is currently reviewing a package of incentives for industry, Sobhi Nasr, who heads the legislative committee at the Federation of Investors’ Associations, told Salet El Tahrir (watch, runtime: 4:43.) He declined to provide more details. We took a look at industrial incentives in the works in this week’s Inside Industry.

AND- Two is enough: The government is looking at introducing incentives for families who commit to having no more than two children in a bid to control a population surge, Masa’a DMC reports (watch, runtime: 3:26.) There is no official word on what kind of incentives the government is willing to offer, but they could come in the form of money transfers or a trust, Magdy Khaled, former assistant representative of the UN Population Fund, told the program (watch, runtime: 8:43.)

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