Egypt's cabinet approves law privatising electricity production, transmission

Egypt’s cabinet approved Wednesday a law privatizing electricity production, distribution and transmission, reported the state-owned news agency MENA.

The law limits the state role in the electricity sector to regulation and supervision and separates activities of production, transmission and distribution to ensure competitiveness in the private sector.

Egypt has been suffering from an acute energy crunch as foreign oil companies suspend extraction works on the back of growing arrears as political turmoil took hold in the aftermath of a popular uprising in 2011. Parts of the national grid are also in need of renovation.

Egypt's government slashed energy and electricity subsidies mid-2014 in a move to reform the country's budgetary imbalance and ultimately eliminate energy subsidies.