ElGouna, Egypt
Naguib Sawiris — one of Africa’s richest men, with an estimated fortune of over $3 billion — has warned that the Egyptian government’s involvement in the private sector makes for an unfair playing field.
“Companies that are government-owned or with the military don’t pay taxes or customs,” Sawiris told AFP from a luxury hotel in the Red Sea resort town of El-Gouna, which his family founded.
“We of course can’t do that, so the competition from the beginning is unfair.”
“The state has to be a regulator, not an owner” of economic activity, said the outspoken 67-year-old, Egypt’s second-richest man after his own brother, Nassef.—APP
