Egypt's president says no more privatisation

Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi says that there will be no further privatisation of state-owned companies.

Egypt's economy is hard hit by the more than two years of turmoil since the ouster of longtime president Hosni Mubarak in a mass uprising in 2011. Losses to the vital tourism sector have depleted government revenues and public sector companies are an additional burden on the budget.

In a speech today on the eve of May Day, Mursi, an Islamist from the Muslim Brotherhood group, said there would be no selling of the public sector. He did not specify whether this was a temporary or permanent measure.
 

Egypt privatised key companies in the 1990s under Mubarak but the programme stalled in recent years. Critics say the sales were tainted by corruption.