2-3 companies to be floated on EGX by end of year: Farid

CAIRO – 10 March 2020: Head of the Egyptian Stock Exchange Mohamed Farid expected two or three new companies to be offered on the bourse by the end of this year.

He said that global and oil market declines are normal due to the current crises and the global panic of the coronavirus.

He added, on the sidelines of the annual summit of the financial markets, that the stock exchanges echo all fluctuations or emergencies in economies, stressing the ability of markets to recover gradually on the medium and long term.

He pointed out that the Egyptian stock market decline is a reaction to the movement of global market indices in the short term, expecting a recovery in the medium and long term.

The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) recorded a collective regression during Monday’s session, losing LE 32.95 billion, amid Arab and foreign selling.

On the precautionary measures that the stock exchange will take in light of market fluctuations, he said during his speech at the "Money Market; Multiple Windows for Financing" that the Stock Exchange does not interfere in determining the market path or price trends. "The Stock Exchange has taken some measures to protect the market from the extreme volatility of issuing benign stock rules," he added.

The EGX strategy in 2020 depends on three axes, including enhancing the value-added chain perspective, boosting the organizational processes to improve the trading mechanisms and attaching more significance to technological development.

“Among 2020's targets is the restructuring of the SME market, and soon the European Bank for Reconstruction will finish its lesson on developing this market,” he clarified.

He also noted that the stock exchange management is discussing with the Financial Supervisory Authority to improve registration and disclosure rules, and to facilitate companies' procedures and protect investors.

Farid also pointed to the commodity exchange, which is considered one of the Egyptian Stock Exchange targets, which is now in the stage of establishment. This is in addition to laws related to warehouses, licenses, classification and arrangement of goods that are being drafted, and set to be completed after a year of establishment.

By the end of 2019, Egypt had announced the establishment of the commodity exchange, which opens the door for questions about this kind of exchange, how it works, and how it will regulate the prices of the commodities in Egypt.