Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said that the government has so far restored nearly EGP 20 billion after settling contracts with 46 companies.

Addressing the two-day annual conference of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), which kicked off in Cairo on Monday, Qandil said following the January 25 Revolution, Egypt was witnessing a true democracy that would help lure more investments into Egypt and rebuild its economy.

A few days ago, the government managed to strike a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to get a loan worth dlrs 4.8 billion after it put forward its national economic reform program, Qandil noted.

He further disclosed that the state is in need of investments worth EGP 276 billion.

Shifting to the state budget, Qandil underlined that the state budget deficit has so far reached about EGP 168 billion, adding that the government was currently taking all necessary measures to reduce this deficit through restructuring the subsidies policy and ensuring that it reached its beneficiaries in full.