Latest in Tag: Economy Highlight
Latest in Tag: Economy
Egypt’s Al Nouran sugar project secures Islamic financing
Reuters – Egypt’s Al Nouran sugar production facility, an EGP 2.5bn ($357m) project, could begin operations in 2016 after securing a Sharia-compliant financing package, the project sponsors said on Monday. Al Nouran is expected to refine more than 500,000 tonnes of sugar annually, potentially reducing the country’s reliance on imported sugar by up to 25%, …
Samsung executive says Galaxy S5 to outsell S4, sees second quarter rollout for Tizen phone
A smooth launch is crucial for Samsung, which reported its second straight quarter of profit decline earlier this month as margins in the key smartphone business come under growing pressure from cheaper Chinese rivals.
Rising from the ashes
Twenty years after genocide, Rwanda makes huge development strides
Saudi Arabia imposes fines, jail terms for visa lapses
Punishment ranging from fines and jail terms to confiscation of assets and deportation may be imposed, escalating a year-long crackdown on visa irregularities that have been overlooked for decades.
Egypt’s military economy: Money is power, power is money
Egypt’s military controls not only the political levers of power, but also the economic ones, and its involvement is getting even deeper
Algeria presidential campaign winds up with recriminations
AFP- Final campaign rallies were held for Algeria’s presidential election on Sunday after the incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his only real rival Ali Benflis waged a war of words. The 77-year-old Bouteflika, despite ailing health and not even appearing in person on the campaign trail, remains favourite to win a fourth term in Thursday’s poll …
Despite suffering economy, Egyptians remain optimistic: Bayt.com survey
52% of Egyptians believe the economy has declined in the last 6 months, yet 37% still expect their personal financial situation to improve in the next 6 months, Bayt.com and YouGov report
Moody’s downgrades Turkey outlook to ‘negative’
Putting the country’s investment-grade rating at risk
Wheat bought by Egypt’s GASC stuck in Russian port: Traders
Reuters – Two wheat cargoes purchased by top global wheat buyer Egypt are stuck at Russia’s Novorossiisk port, after the trade house selling the grain had problems opening the importer’s letters of credit, traders said. Egypt’s state wheat buyer the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) bought the two 60,000-tonne shipments from global commodities trader …
Egypt’s Pioneers Holding 2013 profit rises 37%
Reuters – Egyptian investment firm Pioneers Holding posted a 37% increase in net profits for last year, it said in a bourse statement on Wednesday. Pioneers made EGP 358m ($51m) in 2013 compared with EGP 260.5m in the previous year, it said. The firm, which specialises in brokerage services, said earlier this year it planned …
Egypt economic growth to remain slow: IMF
AFP – Growth in Egypt’s economy is expected to remain sluggish this year as political uncertainty keeps tourists and foreign investors away, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday. The economy of the Arab world’s most populated country was forecast to grow by 2.7% this year after expanding by 2.1% in 2013, the IMF said in …
Iran, world powers seek to intensify nuclear talks
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday that he has formed a group of legal experts to help in the “complicated, difficult and slow work” of drafting a deal.
G20 final document unlikely to address Ukraine crisis
Reuters – The world’s financial leaders are likely to discuss possible risks to Europe’s economy from the crisis in Ukraine, but there are no plans to mention it in the final document from their Washington meeting, two G20 officials said. Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 developed and emerging economies will …
Time running out to meet global warming target: UN report
Temperature rises would sharply raise risks to food and water supplies and could trigger irreversible damage
Dubai to challenge London with Islamic financing platform
Reuters – Dubai will compete with London for a share of Islamic banks’ liquidity management business by offering a new platform for murabaha trading. Many Islamic banks around the world manage their short-term funds with murabaha, in which one bank acquires merchandise and another agrees to buy it at a mark-up. Traditionally, banks from the …
Egypt bourse rebounds
Reuters – Egypt’s index, which had lost 8% of its value in the previous three sessions, rebounded on Tuesday to close 1.5% higher. The dip was a result of profit-taking by investors who had built up positions in anticipation of former army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s run for president. Sisi, who investors hope will stabilise …
The new ‘silk road’, a rail link from China’s factories to heart of Europe
Duisburg is a steel-making town of around half a million on the confluence of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers that boasts the world’s biggest inland port and is one of Germany’s most important transport and commercial hubs.
Hunt is on for new emerging tigers: MINT, PPICS and CIVETS
AFP – For more than 10 years the rise of big emerging markets has re-shaped the global economy but these are now slowing with maturity, and the hunt is on to identify which upstarts will be tomorrow’s tigers. The big five, which recently helped the world through financial crisis but are now experiencing marked growing …
Russia’s Lukoil begins output from giant Iraq oilfield
Reuters – Russia’s Lukoil began commercial production from one of the world’s largest untapped oilfields in Iraq on Saturday, as the country raises output to record levels. Production from the giant West Qurna-2 is eventually expected to reach 1.2m barrels per day (bpd), from an initial 120,000 bpd. The field is one of several that …
Egypt’s economy to strengthen from 2014 to 2016: HSBC
Trade with Europe shows promise during the next six months, the bank’s latest report noted
Egypt army extends power by taking charge of Gulf aid
Bread is a politically-explosive issue in Egypt – failure to deliver it at an affordable price has triggered major riots in the past and the government wants to boost its storage capacity to reduce its reliance on international markets.
Egypt’s Naeem Holding to cross-list on Abu Dhabi exchange
Reuters – Naeem Holding for Investments has received approval from the United Arab Emirate’s financial regulator to list on the Abu Dhabi exchange, the firm said, a further sign of closer economic ties between Egypt and the Gulf. “Coordination is ongoing with the Abu Dhabi market and the necessary measures for receiving the approval of …
China faces ‘serious obstacles’: IMF chief
China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.7% in 2013, unchanged from the year before.
Dubai lender Amlak’s Bourse suspension to be lifted
Reuters – The shares of indebted mortgage lender Amlak will resume trading on the Dubai bourse in the second half of this year, the United Arab Emirates’ economy minister said on Monday. Trading in shares of Amlak, which is in the process of restructuring debt that sources put at nearly $2bn, was suspended in November …
Gunmen attack, burn displaced camp in Darfur: UNAMID
The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has reported a series of attacks on villages in the region this month, but the Khor Abeche camp in South Darfur, assaulted on Saturday, was an unusual target.
After popular protests, Oman starts to pursue graft
Reuters – Young Omanis who took to the streets in 2011 to demand jobs and better economic prospects failed to trigger the mass protests that transformed other parts of the Arab world in their own Gulf state. But they may have had an impact all the same, as authorities are making a start on a …
Dubai Investments to lift foreign ownership cap to 35%
Reuters – Dubai Investments, a diversified manufacturer and investor in property, plans to increase the limit on foreign ownership of its shares to 35% of its total capital, the company said on Sunday. Foreign investors now hold 13.7% of Dubai Investments’ shares out of the total 20% allowed, bourse data shows. The firm’s shareholders, including …
Egypt investors believe Sisi presidency will bring stability
Sisi offers the hope of relief from three years of political turmoil that began with the Arab Spring uprising, even though he was the man who toppled Egypt’s first freely-elected president, Islamist Mohamed Morsi.
What are the justifications for Al-Sisi’s nomination? Part 3: Possible reform movement
In the previous articles, we highlighted three groups that are supporting Al-Sisi’s nomination. The first one is the popular movement, which expresses the general mood in the Egyptian streets. The second one if the old state movement, which encompass several groups with different goals and directions that believe in the old regime’s way and completely …
Swiss-Listed Orascom warns on profit amid Egyptian instability
Specific factors hitting Orascom include lower capitalisation of financing costs, the devalued Egyptian currency, but also impairments on investments and a review of its taxation