Ebeid reviews means of boosting bourse performance

Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebeid yesterday led a ministerial meeting to discuss means of improving the performance of the Egyptian Stock Exchange and increase trading in order to attract Arab and foreign investment.

It was decided to abolish a decree to fix the market value of traded shares, especially for blue-chip stocks, chairman of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), Abdul Hamid Ibrahim said following the meeting.

The Stock Exchange board of directors would be meeting within the next two weeks to formulate procedures to carry out the decisions of yesterday's ministerial meeting, Ibrahim said.

"The proposal for a credit system was discussed, whereby 50 per cent of total value of shares sold would be paid in cash by way of deposit and the balance would be negotiable between buyer and seller," he said.

Brokerages would be subject to special terms of membership with the Bourse, he added, saying that the collective aim of all these measures is to increase liquidity of transactions.