Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, the Minister of Investment, headed   the general assemblies of the 9 public business sector holding companies to review their initial performance indicators for the FY ending on June 30, 2010.

Chairpersons of holding companies reviewed board of directors' reports for the next FY 2010/11 and expected final accounts for the holding companies and their affiliates.

Debt settlement process entailed three phases. The last phase of settling debts owed to banks was completed by having the debt traded for unused State-owned land.

Therefore, total debts settled for the three stages reached EGP 5.32 billion, saving EGP 3 billion annually that came previously in the form of duties shouldered by companies. After debts were settled, companies' loss decreased from EGP 2,292 million annually to EGP 827 million on June 30, 2010, and it is expected to drop to EGP 576 million on FY 2010/11's budget, down by 75 percent.

At the level of improving the status of workers, wage averages increased over 100 percent between July 2004 and June 2010.

Dr. Mohieldin directed holding companies' administrations to collaborate with workers' and trade union representatives to check worker statutes thoroughly such as the incentives that are linked to workers' production capacity and performance.

Debt settlement to commercial public banks coincided with injecting investments into public business sector companies in all sectors. Some of these companies received no investments for as long as 12 years, according to company general assemblies' members.

The new investments are implemented for purposes of restructuring, replacement, renewal and development at all holding companies, particularly in chemical, metallurgical and food industries, contracting, tourism and spinning.

Investments injected into public business sector affiliates from July 2004 to June 2010 totaled an unprecedented amount of EGP 18.4 billion, including EGP 4.4 billion during FY 2009/10.

Based on initial estimates, net profits of a total of 147 public business sector affiliates rose 18 percent to EGP 4.6 billion in FY 2009/10 (after excluding the loss of loss-making businesses), compared to EGP 3.9 billion in FY 2008/09.

Improvement is expected to continue throughout the next FY 2010/11 to reach EGP 5.5 billion.

Number of profit-making companies reached 104 in FY 2009/10 and is expected to become 121 during FY 2010/11.

Therefore, total profit between July 2004 and June 2010 reached EGP 19.9 billion thanks to debt settlements and the injection of new investments and, first of all, the effort of 315,000 workers in these companies, which led to higher production rates and better operational efficiency.

Noteworthy, the portfolio of public business sector companies registered a net loss of EGP 1.3 billion in 2003.