The first attempts at economic liberalization in Egypt consisted of the
establishment of new private companies with strong state capital sharing, or
of joint ventures, both of which soon proved to be failures (Ismail 1988: 25).
Participating private entrepreneurs were usually politically influential persons
whose primary interest was to gain profit by making use of the state’s cor-
rupt administrative apparatus. They exploited the subsidies and the privileges
granted by the state and finally either sold their businesses at low prices when
they had been ruined, or handed them back to the state, making it responsible
for the welfare of the dismissed employees.