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Sales of 273- and 91-day Egyptian treasury bills at an auction on Sunday climbed from last week’s low after the finance ministry paid record high yields to partly reflect a 200-basis-point hike in central bank overnight interest rates on March 30. Investors have sought higher yields to match the increased central bank rates and on […]
Egypt has collected $385 million through an initiative that lets Egyptians living abroad import cars customs-free when they deposit hard currency in five-year certificates of deposit (CDs). Finance minister of Mohamed Maait said that 600 cars had been released so far to Egyptians living abroad who signed up for the initiative. He added that the […]
Osman Sultan proclaimed in 1997 he would put “a mobile in the hand of everyone” in Egypt. At the time, even some shareholders at Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (MobiNil), where he was CEO, were unsettled by his audacious statement. Egypt’s telecoms regulator granted him a licence to become the country’s first mobile operator, but […]
Interest rates in Egypt could soon reach a 30-year high, according to economists, amid fears that core inflation, already at a record 40.3 percent, will rise further. Last week, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) increased its overnight deposit rate and lending rate by 200 basis points (bps) to 18.25 percent and 19.25 percent respectively. […]
Chinese state-owned telecom firms are developing a $500 million undersea fibre-optic internet cable network that would link Asia, the Middle East and Europe to rival a similar US-backed project, four people involved in the deal told Reuters. The plan is a sign that an intensifying tech war between Beijing and Washington risks tearing the fabric […]
The number of millionaires living in Morocco has increased by 28 percent over the last 10 years, but fallen by 25 percent in Egypt. While Morocco was awarded a $5 billion credit line from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week to shield it from the impact of the pandemic, droughts and the Ukraine war, […]
The Red Sea Wind Energy consortium has signed a financial closing agreement worth $680 million to establish a wind farm in the Gulf of Suez with a capacity of 500mw. The project will be funded by the Japan Cooperation Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Egypt Today newspaper reported, citing an Egyptian […]
Sales of three-year Egyptian treasury bonds issued on Tuesday plummeted to EGP1.09 million ($35,332) after the government baulked at the high yields demanded by investors concerned the currency is likely to depreciate soon. The central bank received 26 bids worth EGP5.77 billion with a weighted average yield of 24.15 percent at an auction on Monday, […]
The Islamic Development Bank has approved $344.5 million in financing towards the first phase of the planned Egyptian electric train system. The 660 km railway will connect Egypt’s port cities of Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean with Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea. The Egyptian electric train project is expected to benefit 25 […]
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has travelled to Saudi Arabia as Cairo continues to seek financial inflows to ease pressure on its currency and bolster a faltering economy. Sisi was welcomed in Jeddah on Monday morning by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has long provided financial support to Egypt but […]
Turkish companies are set to invest $500 million in Egypt in 2023-2024, targeting a trading volume of $20 billion in the long-term, a local newspaper reported. Turkish investors have significantly increased their investment in Egypt, with 35 companies employing 70,000 Egyptians at an investment of $1.5 billion, Daily Sabah newspaper reported, citing Mustafa Denizer, chairperson […]
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has approved additional budget spending of EGP165 billion ($5.4 billion) for this fiscal year ending in June, local media reported on Friday, citing the official gazette. The additional money was allocated for wages, subsidies and grants, and for social benefit spending, state-owned newspaper Al Ahram reported. Egypt is facing economic […]
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) raised its overnight interest rates by 200 basis points (bps) on Thursday following a meeting of its monetary policy committee (MPC), saying it aimed to bring high inflation into check. The bank set the lending rate at 19.25 percent and the deposit rate at 18.25 percent. The median forecast […]
Egypt expects to raise its allocation for food subsidies by 20 percent and for petroleum products by 24 percent in the 2023-24 fiscal year, according to a draft budget approved by the cabinet on Wednesday. The budget forecasts GDP growth of 4.1 percent and inflation at an average rate of 16 percent during the next […]
Egyptian tourism will get a boost from a five-year tourist visa available for $700, the country’s government hopes. The visa has been announced as part of a national strategy to more than double tourist numbers over the next five years. Announcing the new visa at a press conference on Monday, Egyptian minister of tourism and […]
The Egyptian pound lost ground on the black market again in recent days in a sign that halving its official value over the past year could still not be enough and the central bank may have to let it slide further. Despite its pledge in October to allow supply and demand determine exchange rates, the […]
Egypt’s central bank (CBE) is forecast to hike its overnight interest rates by 200 basis points (bps) on Thursday as it struggles to bring soaring inflation under control, a Reuters poll showed on Monday. After that meeting, the state statistics agency announced that annual inflation in January had surged to 25.8 percent and in February to 31.9 percent, […]
China spent $240 billion bailing out 22 developing countries between 2008 and 2021. The amount soared in recent years as more have struggled to repay loans spent building “Belt & Road” infrastructure, according to a study published Tuesday. Almost 80 percent of the rescue lending was made between 2016 and 2021, mainly to middle-income countries […]
Chinese company Xinxing Ductile Iron Pipes intends to invest $2 billion in iron and steel plants in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, Egypt’s cabinet said on Thursday. The plants are planned in an industrial zone at the Egyptian Red Sea port of Ain Sokhna developed by China’s Tianjin and will manufacture iron pipes and steel […]
The World Bank has approved a new $7 billion partnership agreement with Egypt for 2023-2027 with a focus on boosting private sector jobs, provision of better health and education services and adaptation to climate change. The country partnership agreement (CPF) will entail $1 billion per year from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) […]
