94 Articles
CAIRO: Egypt’s decision to keep airports under government control was praised as a wise decision by the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). “We have to congratulate [Egypt] for the decision to keep the airports under the control of the central government and not privatizing them,” Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO of …
CAIRO: While Egypt’s retail business infrastructure is evolving — as is the case with the growth of supermarkets and hypermarkets — the process needs to be accelerated, said Tarek Kabil, president of PepsiCo for the Middle East and Africa. “In Egypt, organized trade is only 5 or 6 percent of the business and [in] other …
CAIRO: A total of 22 agreements were signed between companies from Egypt and Guangdong, China, with total investments of over $250 million, during a business forum this week. The Egypt-China Forum, organized by the General Authority for Investment (GAFI) in cooperation with the Egypt-China Business Council and the Chinese embassy in Cairo, focused on companies …
CAIRO: Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid said that Egypt will disburse LE 280 million in support funds to 120 local spinning and weaving factories, reported the state-run Al-Akhbar newspaper. The money, to be allocated from the Export Development Fund, is meant to support local producers due to a lack of supply in …
CAIRO: Game development is not one of the most popular industries in Egypt, despite being a more lucrative industry than any other entertainment business worldwide — including music and film — according to Timeline Interactive CEO Ahmed Metwally. In 2010, Metwally was recognized by Endeavor Global, an international NGO, as a high impact entrepreneur who …
CAIRO: Egypt’s Xceed plans to double the size of its operations by 2013, the vice president of the company said. A provider of multilingual business process outsourcing (BPO) services, Xceed currently has two contact centers in Egypt and one in Morocco with 2,000 total employees. And right now, “business is booming,” said Xceed Vice President …
CAIRO: The number of mobile subscribers in Egypt reached 60.2 million at the end of August, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, an increase of 20.3 percent over the past year. Mohamed Hamdy, associate director of the research department and telecom specialist at CI Capital, expects the mobile …
CAIRO: Telecom Egypt (TE) is preparing to enter into an agreement with Vodafone Egypt to buy minutes at reduced prices and resell them in the market under the Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) licenses that the Telecom Ministry plans to issue. According to independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt’s Telecom Minister met with the CEO of …
CAIRO: Suez Canal revenues fell to $410.2 million in September from $436 million the previous month, according to a statement released by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA). Growth in revenues fell to 7.2 percent in September, down from a two-year record of 17.3 percent in August. The overall number of vessels passing through the canal …
CAIRO: Russian telecom operator Vimpelcom and Naguib Sawiris’ Weather Investments sealed a deal Tuesday worth $6.6 billion that will create the world’s fifth largest mobile telecommunications carrier by subscribers. Under the terms of the agreement, Vimpelcom will acquire from Weather Investments a 51.7 percent stake in Orascom Telecom and 100 percent of Wind Italy, excluding …
CAIRO: Egypt’s new pensions and insurance law, which raises the insurable percentage of the net salary, is causing public contention and raising the ire of industry insiders. The old law stipulated that a maximum percentage for both basic and additional components of an employee’s salary be paid, while the amended version requires a percentage of …
CAIRO: “Access to finance is very important,” said Hanaa El Hilaly, general manager for the Planning and International Cooperation Group in the Social Fund for Development, at the Euromoney conference session on small and medium enterprise (SME) financing last week. “SMEs are still seeking banks’ financing. There are 750,000 students graduating each year who are …
CAIRO: “The financial industry has to play by new rules,” Hassan Abdallah, CEO of Arab African International Bank said at a Cairo conference. At a workshop titled “Sustainable Finance” at this week’s Euromoney Conference, panelists discussed ways to foster sustainable corporate businesses and economies, raising questions about Egypt’s readiness to take the initiative to benefit …
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tarek Kamel said Wednesday that Egypt will sign its first triple-play license with a Vodafone-led Egyptian consortium, Teletech. A second license will be signed in a few weeks with Link — a consortium including Orascom Telecom (OT) and Mobinil — to provide cable, telephone, internet and voice services in …
Problems with regulation and monitoring as well as the lack of a mature, aware investor base are the main obstacles facing Egypt’s stock exchange in the coming period, Khaled Serry Siam, the bourse’s new chairman, said. Speaking at this week’s Euromoney conference in a session titled “Rebuilding Trust,” Siam summarized the attractiveness of Egypt’s markets …
Hisham Ezz El Arab, chairman of Commercial International Bank (CIB), recently launched the CIB Foundation, a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative dedicated to enhancing health and nutrition services for underprivileged children in Egypt. Nesma Farahat, manager of the CIB Foundation, told Daily News Egypt that the board of trustees chose children’s health and nutrition as …
Customer service at banks in Egypt is notorious for its long queues, systems that are “down” and a staff that oftentimes fails to apply the mantra: the customer is always right. According to Bassel El-Hini, managing director of credit and retail banking at Banque Du Caire, the success of the sector will depend on banks …
CAIRO: “We need to concentrate on two things: poverty alleviation and addressing education,” Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros-Ghali told a conference Tuesday. The minister outlined an ambitious plan to decrease the poverty ratio by 50 percent in the next few years, speaking at the two-day Euromoney Egypt Conference titled “Competing for Investment, Investing in Competitiveness,” …
CAIRO: To sustain their economic growth prospects at around 5-6 percent in the next five years, Middle East and North Africa countries need to increase investments in infrastructure, according to David Craig, World Bank Country Director for Egypt. Craig was speaking at the first technical meeting of the MENA region’s Infrastructure Regulatory Forum that was …
CAIRO: Starting next year, Egypt will embark on a relocation project which should eventually see cement factories moved out of the Helwan governorate. Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid approved last week licenses awarded for the project, which is billed as the solution to pollution problems attributed to the location of a number …
CAIRO: In the midst of public concern over the consistent rise in food prices and agricultural commodities, analysts have tried to zero in on the causes and propose possible solutions to face Egypt’s inflation woes. The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported this week a 21 percent annual increase in the price …
CAIRO: Real GDP will grow by 3.5 percent globally in 2010, with Africa growing by an estimated 5 percent, according to a UN report released this week. Emerging market economies in Asia and Latin America are leading the recovery; some achieving double digit growth rates in the first quarter for 2010, according to the United …
CAIRO: Egypt’s Real Estate Tax Authority has exempt 6 million people and 9 million units from paying property taxes this year, making up roughly 90 percent of the tax base, Al-Ahram reported. In some governorates, 100 percent of citizens were exempt, the state-run daily reported on Monday. Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali said studies have been …
CAIRO: Egyptian Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin accepted the appointment as managing director of the World Bank on Sept. 8 and will assume his new post in October. Meanwhile, the ruling National Democratic Party has commissioned a committee to find a replacement for the minister in the Egyptian cabinet. Front-runners in the search so far …
CAIRO: Google.org recently launched Health Speaks, an initiative which encourages community-based, crowd-sourced translations of health information with the assistance of Google Translator Toolkit. Health Speaks pilot programs for Arabic, Hindi and Swahili began last week and are supported with a donation incentive, awarding local charities with funds based on the number of words volunteers translate. …
CAIRO: Egypt will invite bids this week to build electricity generators with a total capacity of 1,000 MW, part of an effort to deal with power outages that have been plaguing the nation since the beginning of Ramadan, reported Reuters citing the energy ministry. Summer temperatures of about 40°C, combined with higher demand near sunset …
CAIRO: Omar Effendi’s owner company, Saudi-based Anwal, may face opposition from the Egyptian government it if attempts to sell the iconic retail chain. Rumors circulated last week about a possible bid by the Qatar Holding Company to buy Omar Effendi. Reports claimed that Saudi businessman Gameel El-Qanbeet, owner of Anwal, is in serious negotiations with …
CAIRO: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched Tuesday its Alternative Dispute Resolution Program in Egypt, which promotes mediation as a tool to improve the country’s investment climate. Fatma Ibrahim, associate operations officer at IFC, said, “The program’s objectives are to transform the practice of mediation/reconciliation to become an alternative effective method for resolution of trade …
CAIRO: The Egyptian pound reached 5.7038 against the dollar this week, its lowest point since January 2007. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Egypt country report for August 2010, however, the country can expect foreign reserves to increase as traditional sources of foreign currency pick up allowing Egypt’s central bank to intervene to prevent …
Over the past two years, there’s been a lot of lost trust in financial institutions in the wake of global economic turmoil, which gave rise to new banking regulations, financial watchdogs as well as heightened public scrutiny. Some of the key lessons learned by markets worldwide are the importance of risk management, transparency and, overall, …