CAIRO: “Everybody’s talking SMEs, said Karim Helal, Group CEO of CI Capital Holding, at the start of a Euromoney panel called “SMEs – Can they ride to the rescue? SMEs, or small and medium enterprises, have, in the last couple of years, become all the rage. As banks and investment firms slice the pie of …

CAIRO: This is a transformative time for Egypt’s securities markets. In the midst of a volatile year on the exchange, the markets continue to expand both in the products they offer and in the companies they have opened up to. A panel discussion titled “How to learn to stop worrying and love risk at Euromoney …

CAIRO: Egypt plans to boost internal trade to LE 25 billion in the next five years, from its current level of LE 2.5 billion per year, Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said Wednesday. Egypt is back on track to continue with reforms, he said at the Euromoney conference, responding to uncertainty as to how the …

CAIRO: Global consensus is high that there needs to be a significant change made to the way the world economy operates. While markets will, forever, hit peaks and valleys, emphasis after an economic shock like the current one falls on how to bring stability and sustainable growth to economies. To that end, a handful of …

CAIRO: Egyptian economic gurus seem to have a pretty good grasp on the fact that the global economic structure as we know it has changed. What they seem less sure on, though, is exactly how it has changed. At the Euromoney Egypt Conference’s first panel session Tuesday, a number of the country’s top business minds …

CAIRO: The Egyptian economy has arrived at a critical juncture, said Taher Helmy, leading lawyer, partner at the law firm Baker & McKenzie and chairman of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies. A year after the onset of the global economic crisis, this is an important moment for Egypt, he said. He’s hopeful that the …

CAIRO: The Euromoney Egypt Conference 2009 kicks off today, bringing together government and business leaders to analyze trends in the Egyptian economy from a global context and offer predictions for the future. Over two days, the conference will bring five ministers – including Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin, Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros-Ghali, Minister of Trade …

CAIRO: Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif announced this week that Egypt would temporarily suspend the tariffs it had imposed on sugar imports, a move likely to boost supply locally. Up until Nazif issued the decree, tariffs on raw sugar stood at 2 percent and those on processed sugar were 10 percent. Egypt imported 31,000 tons of …

The Central Bank of Egypt cut last week key interest rates, signaling the government’s continued stance of encouraging economic growth while worrying less about inflationary pressures. Analysts have been quick to sound off on the latest cuts, saying that it was expected given the campaign by the government over the past year to spur growth. …

The ink on Kashif Sohail’s business cards is hardly dry. Barclays’ new director of consumer banking in Egypt (he’s four weeks into his tenure) comes into the job at a time when a year’s worth of upheaval in the global financial system has done little to stem a blossoming retail banking business. Though Barclays has …

CAIRO: The Ministry of Electricity, it’s safe to say, is not the government’s biggest earner. But a new plan, announced by the government this week seeks to remedy the problem. The ministry said for the first time that it is enacting a plan to partially privatize domestic electrical production. The government, through the Electricity Holding …

CAIRO: Hussein Mahmoud is a foodie with a keen business eye. This entrepreneur has already challenged McDonalds, broken ground in Egypt’s healthy living food market, and now he’s decided to battle chicken giant KFC. It took a lot for Mahmoud, CEO of Sage Foods Inc., to jump the rails of a conventional career. In 2002, …

CAIRO: Egypt said it will be taking strides to cut wheat prices over the long term by slashing the cost of seed, the local press reported. The Ministry of Agriculture said that it would cut the price of wheat seeds by almost 50 percent to LE 85 per bushel. Other winter crops, according to the …

CAIRO: These are dynamic times for Naguib Sawiris and his crew at Orascom Telecom (OT). The country’s largest mobile telecom operator finds itself in the middle of a dizzying array of deals around the globe – all part of an effort to assert itself as one of the planet’s leading telecom firms. The news this …

CAIRO: The National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) said, according to local media, that it would spell out new guidelines to stipulate future pricing rules for the country’s three mobile phone operators. The announcement comes on the heels of, but cannot be directly tied to, a formal complaint issued by Telecom Egypt (TE) last week, arguing …

CAIRO: After months of measured recovery, Suez Canal revenues experienced a setback this August, caused both by persistent sluggishness in the world of international trade and the predictable cyclicality of the canal. Revenue hit its 2009 peak in July, registering $382.9 million in income. In August of this year, that number fell to $371.8 million. …

CAIRO: Egypt jumped from 116 to 106 in the World Bank-IFC “Doing Business 2010 Report, leaving it still firmly in the bottom half of the list. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, announced this week the findings of its Doing Business 2010 report, intended to illustrate the ease …

CAIRO: Egypt’s Ministry of Trade and Industry this week announced its intention to consider extending additional licenses for cement production in an effort to boost local supply in the face of increased domestic demand. Reports also indicated that the government is not considering taking similar steps in the steel industry. Cement prices this year have …

CAIRO: Telecom Egypt (TE) announced this week that it had filed a complaint to the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority against the country’s mobile phone operators for what the fixed-line giant called unfair pricing practices, local media reported. In order to boost business, the three mobile operators have launched something of a Ramadan price war that, …

CAIRO: Call it a meeting of the Hishams – one a business guru, one a technology wiz, who have partnered to create some of the most innovative 3D work coming out of the region today. Hisham Abdel Maguid partnered his business prowess with Hesham Medhat’s technological acumen to create Epic Systems, which launched early last …

We focus on many different kinds of motors, said Ahmed Hamdi, media manager for Motor TV. Motor TV is not your typical car channel. In fact, to hear Hamdi talk about it, it’s not a car channel at all. This is your one-stop-shop for all things motors. Planes, trains and automobiles – even yachts. Ahmed …

CAIRO: Ezz Al-Dekheila Steel reported its earnings this week, signaling a marked decline from its second quarter earnings a year ago and a small decline from first quarter 2009 revenue. Ezz Steel Rebars owns 52.1 percent of Ezz Al-Dekheila. Revenue for the quarter came in at LE 2.05 billion, an 8.2 percent decline from the …

CAIRO: Real estate giant Sixth of October Development and Investment (SODIC) reported a decline in second quarter earnings, but analysts are praising the numbers saying that the company’s guidelines for reporting earnings skew results. SODIC reported LE 3.85 billion in revenues for the period from April 1 through the end of June. That’s down dramatically …

CAIRO: Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority posted July numbers that signal a steady rebound for one of the government’s primary income sources. Revenue for the canal in July hit $382.9 million, about a 10 percent jump from $348.2 million in June. Revenue in June grew 1.7 percent month on month, so July numbers indicate that revenue …

CAIRO: Commercial International Bank’s (CIB) results for the second quarter of 2009 represent a slide for one of the industry leaders, which finds itself in the midst of an expansion campaign. The bank reported net profits for the period between March and June of LE 439.0 million, a 17 percent drop from the same three …

CAIRO: The Egyptian pound has made small but steady gains against the dollar this year. But at least one firm is predicting a potential shift. The pound has gained 1.1 percent against the dollar this year and 2.7 percent since mid-March. But with a strengthening pound has come a decline in exports. According to Bloomberg, …

CAIRO: Even with demand for high-end real estate at a low ebb, a handful of companies are forging ahead with projects they hope will coincide with high market demand a few years down the road. In keeping with that theme, on Monday two companies, one a real estate developer and the other a project manager, …

CAIRO: Members of the Egyptian Hotel Association and the Ministry of Tourism denied news reports that they had set regulations allowing hotels to reduce their prices by 20 to 25 percent from October 2009 to October 2010. According to an article in Al-Mal newspaper and notes in investment bank Beltone Financial’s daily market report, the …