THE Government 's enthusiasm for privatisation,in order to offload State-owned factories and companies,seems to be waning. Several landmines have inevitably exploded in the face of the Government in its unwise rush to privatise these factories and companies,the biggest landmine being the fact that thousands of workers have lost their jobs as a result.The Government 's change of heart over pri- vatisation could also be attributed to legal bat-tles raging between the Government and investors,who have bought a number of State- owned companies in the country
One of these heated legal battles concerns the famous Omar Effendi chain of department stores,whose purchaser has been accused of breaching his contractual obligations by using different means to coerce as many staff as pos- sible into submitting their resignations.The Government 's change of heart was revealed by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif in his recent speech to the Euromoney Conference in Cairo.The Premier said that they were introducing 'an ambitious asset management programme ', which will maximise the profits made by State- owned companies and firms.Hinting that the programme has different aims from privatisation,the Prime Minister explained to his audience that privatisation is not his Government 's aim per se.Workers in State-owned factories,who have been spared the chop so far,have cause for hope:the Premier said that the new economic policies would create more jobs.
