Billionaire Sawiris wants 'level playing field' for Egypt business

EL-GOUNA, Nov 21 (AFP): 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.

Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power in 2014, the former army general has embarked on massive national infrastructure projects, with a new capital in the desert as the centrepiece of his urban vision.

The military's economic reach has grown under his leadership, partnering up with firms such as the Sawiris family's Orascom.

The army has played a key though opaque role in Egypt's economy for decades, producing everything from washing machines to pasta as well as building roads and operating gas stations.