Egypt has approved one of its biggest economic restructurings in years, giving sweeping powers to the state-run Future of Egypt Authority at a time when the International Monetary Fund is urging Cairo to reduce the state’s role in the economy.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation that transforms the Future of Egypt Authority into one of the country’s most powerful economic institutions and places it directly under the supervision of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The authority is formally a state-run body, but it grew out of development projects overseen by Egypt’s military establishment and has become closely associated with the broader expansion of military-backed economic activity under Sisi.
The law significantly expands the authority’s influence over strategic sectors of the economy, giving it broad responsibilities for commodity imports, agriculture, fisheries, investment, real estate development, land allocation, licensing, asset management and revenue collection.
Its passage signals that Egypt intends to continue relying on powerful state-backed institutions to drive economic development even as international lenders push for deeper private sector participation.
