Egypt will ​step up efforts to cut red tape to spur local businesses and expects to list as many as ‌four state-owned firms on the stock exchange over the next 12 months, its Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid Saleh told Reuters.

The Arab world’s most populous nation is staging a cautious comeback after a recent currency crunch, and with the help of an $8 billion programme with the International Monetary ​Fund tied to a reform programme of exchange-rate liberalisation, fiscal tightening and a push to curb the state’s role ​in the economy.

Planned reforms aim to streamline company formation but also ease capital raising and make ⁠M&A processes easier, especially for non-listed firms, Saleh said.

“Within the coming 12 months, the priority would be in the area ​of the ease of doing business for already existing companies to facilitate their life … this is quite a hefty job,” Saleh ​told Reuters on the sidelines of a visit to London.

He also predicted more than half-a-dozen companies would be floated on the country’s stock exchange over the next 12 months, including a number of state-run ones.

State-owned enterprises still play an outsized role across Egypt’s economy with the IMF saying progress in reducing ​their footprint has been slower than expected.

Saleh highlighted how the government had already got the ball rolling, having announced in ​March plans to sell up to a 20% share of Misr Life Insurance - something it had been promising to do for more than 15 years - ‌and ⁠is tipped to raise roughly 14 billion Egyptian pounds ($270.4 million).

“We are expecting around four to five private sector IPOs.”

Pound under pressure

Asked about the currency, Saleh said the government would not veer away from its commitment to a floating exchange rate.

Egypt’s pound has been one of the world’s hardest-hit currencies by the Iran war, falling nearly 8% since the conflict began, which has driven up inflation and threatened to ​reignite worries about the currency’s trajectory.

“Investors can ​deal with volatility; they don’t ⁠deal with uncertainty,” he said. “We were very clear and adamant about our policy direction … we are solely targeting inflation.”

He also said the government would maintain fiscal discipline.

“When we were tested with the ​situation in the region, we were very adamant about it,” he said. “We dealt with it on ​the spot to ⁠maintain our fiscal space and fiscal discipline.”

Asked about the seventh review of the country’s IMF programme, which is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks, Saleh said the government had achieved or even surpassed targets set on metrics such as its fiscal deficit and ⁠primary surplus.

A ​follow-on programme with the Fund once the current one expires by year-end ​was currently not on the cards, he said.

“When you go and enter into a programme, it is because of financial needs, and because of other aspects, those ​things are not present as we speak.”