CAIRO : Some 25 Egyptian businessmen will go to the Polish capital Warsaw as of May 27 as part of the annual knocking door mission organized by the Egyptian Polish Businessmen Association (EPBA) for 10 years now, said Medhat Al-Kaissy, head of the EPBA. The mission achieved positive and tangible results. Egyptian exports to Poland …

Foreign exchange reserve in Egypt has scored $34 billion, asserting that budget deficit declined from 9 percent last year to only 5.5 percent this year, Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros Ghali was reported to have said by the State Information Service. On the sidelines of meetings with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund …

CAIRO: Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif s decision to turn the General Authority for Health Insurance into a holding Company under the name ‘the holding company for health care,’ is not aimed at privatizing health insurance, said Minister of Health and Population Hatem Al-Gabali, according to reports by the State Information Service. The decision was meant …

More time and measures needed for Egyptians to feel benefits of reform CAIRO: The pace of privatization in Egypt must be quicker than it currently is, Mohammed Shafik Gabr, Chairman of the Arab Business Council and Managing Director of the Artoc Group in Egypt said in an interview with The Daily Star Egypt. Gabr argued …

CAIRO: Orascom Construction Industries has signed a LE 760 million deal with the Cairo Electricity Production Company for work on the El Tebbin thermal power plant south of Cairo, the company said Sunday. The contract is for the construction of a new 2 by 350 megawatt terminal near the industrial areas of Helwan and Maadi, …

DUBAI: Leo Burnett Middle East and North Africa (Mena) recently earned international recognition as a 2006 “Bright Star from Leo Burnett Worldwide for delivering exemplary creative and business results. Presented at a ceremony in Chicago attended by representatives of Leo Burnett’s offices around the world, the award is considered a significant mark of distinction and …

CAIRO: Arab businessmen have pointed out that economic growth is not related to democratic reform in the region, which has seen sustained growth for the fourth year running. “There is no democracy in the Arab world, said Mazen S. Darwazeh, co-chairman of the roundtable and Chairman of Hikma Pharmaceuticals in Jordan. Khalid Abdulla-Janahi, Vice-Chairman of …

Egypt is the potential next stop for the highly destructive strain ROME: A virulent new strain of a fungus capable of destroying entire wheat fields has spread from East Africa to Yemen, a UN agency warned Thursday. The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said an estimated 80 percent of all wheat varieties planted in Asia …

Report: bird culling bill reached LE 1 billion CAIRO: The culling of more than 34 million birds since February 2006 to contain the spread of the Avian Flu virus has cost the Egyptian poultry industry nearly LE 1 billion, a Council of Ministers’ report released last week revealed. According to the report, destroying poultry suspected …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Its built-up resorts and package tourism may be seem like a world away from the rest of Egypt, but a majority of the foreign tourists who visit Sharm El-Sheikh are looking for the Egyptian experience. The magnificence of the Red Sea, the romance of Sinai and the year-round climate are undoubtedly the main …

CAIRO: The finance minister said Thursday that he expects the nation s budget deficit to fall to 5.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, largely because of a bigger-than-expected sale price for a mobile phone license. This is a windfall. We expect the budget deficit this year to be 5.5 percent of GDP, …

CAIRO: Unemployment rates in Egypt have dropped from 11.7 percent in eight years time, according to a report by the Egyptian Centre for Economic Studies (ECES). The State Information Service reported yesterday that the decline in unemployment recorded during the period from 1998 till 2006 was almost equal among men and women, according to the …

CAIRO: Egyptian and Russian trade and industry delegates on Tuesday inked a Memorandum of Understating (MOU) that will pave the way to the establishment of a Russian Industrial Zone in Borg El Arab. Russian and Egyptian energy, automotive, aviation, heavy machinery and biomedical companies will occupy an area of one million square meters in Borg …

DOHA: Egypt topped its direct Arab competitors in the least advanced stage of development category of the Arab World Competitiveness report released Monday. The United Arab Emirates led the way in the top tier stage of most advanced countries, followed by Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. According to Margaret Drzeniek Hanouz, the senior economist of the …

CAIRO: A five-for-one split of Orascom Telecom (OT) shares will take effect on Thursday, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. The split does not apply to Orascom Telecom global depositary receipts, which after the split will become equivalent to five OT shares instead of one, it added. The market has largely discounted the …

CAIRO: Egypt s revenues from tourism, a key part of the north African nation s economy, is expected to rise 18.4 percent to about $9 billion in 2007, Egyptian tourism minister Zoheir Garana said on Tuesday. We are creating more spending outlets, Garana told Reuters in the Qatari capital Doha, adding that revenues from the …

CAIRO: Do you know that some 100 multinational companies budgets make up 20 percent of the world s funds? That 51 private monetary establishments own several companies worldwide, compared to some 49 which remain controlled by governments? What do you make of the fact that two American motoring companies sales (General Motors and Ford) exceed …

CAIRO: Egyptian share indexes dipped on Thursday on news of a lower-than-expected bid for National Bank for Development and profit-taking by retail investors after two days of light gains in the market, traders said. News about National Bank for Development is causing the selling pressure. Most of the market plunged due to profit taking and …

CAIRO: The median overnight interbank rate on the Egyptian pound fell fractionally to 8.79 percent on Thursday from 8.824 on Wednesday in the absence of central bank certificate of deposit auctions. The market is extremely liquid, said one trader. Banks tend to revert to the interbank market in the absence of auctions for the higher-yielding …

CAIRO: Mediterranean Smart Cards Company (MSCC) recently announced that they have signed an agreement to handle smart card processing for the United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA). As one of the largest processing centers for magnetic stripe cards in Egypt, MSCC held a series of negotiations with UBA to finalize the agreement, which allows the …

CAIRO: A consortium led by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank made the only bid for Egypt s National Bank for Development, offering less than a third of its market price, an official at the Egyptian lender said on Thursday. A decision on whether to accept the bid, announced on Wednesday by the Egyptian stock exchange, would …

SHARM EL SHEIKH: Russia s top rice producer Razgulay plans a $60 million upgrade of one of its three rice processing plants, company president Igor Potapenko said on Thursday. After the upgrades our Poltavsky plant will be able to process 500 tons of rice per day instead of current 400 tons, Potapenko told Reuters on …

DOHA: Egyptian Energy Minister Sameh Fahmi said Sunday that forming an Opec-like gas cartel was not a good idea as the world is not prepared to have a new energy organization. Its not a good idea at this stage, Fahmi said when asked about the idea of forming a cartel for the gas producing and …

Russia is expected to establish an industrial zone in the northern coastal city of Alexandria with an area of one million square meters, the official Mena news agency reported Monday. Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid signed the agreement on Tuesday with Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko, who arrived in Cairo …

Reuters ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank said on Monday it was competing with Saudi banks to take over Egypt s National Development Bank and enter the most populous Arab country. It could be the first foreign acquisition for Abu Dhabi Islamic, the Gulf s sixth-largest Islamic lender by market value, which wants to expand …

CAIRO: The country’s largest cement producer, Suez Cement Group, announced final consolidated 2006 results Thursday showing a 51 percent increase in net sales and a higher profit margin, but a 10 percent decline in net income. Suez captured 32 percent of the local market in 2006 with subsidiaries Helwan and Torah Cement producing nearly 61 …

BEIJING: Chery Automobile, which has or is setting up seven assembly plants in Russia, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Ukraine and Uruguay, became the first Chinese auto maker to top the domestic car sales list since 1987 by selling 44,568 vehicles in March, Chinese media reported Friday. The company s sales last month beat the 40,071 units …

Company to offer primary lenders long-term financing at 9.5 percent CAIRO: The launch of the Egyptian Company for Mortgage Refinance (ECMR) will help lower lending rates to 11 percent, Minister of Investment Mahmoud Moheiddin told the People’s Assembly Wednesday. In a January statement, the Mortgage Finance Authority (MFA) announced that ECMR is due to begin …

CAIRO: Residential tourism will be one of the main focuses of the tourism ministry in the coming years, said Minister of Tourism Mohammed Zoheir Garana. Garana made this statement at a press conference at the Nile Hilton on Tuesday in an event organized by the British Egyptian Business Association (Beba) to discuss the potential of …

Badawy: reasons behind delay out of company’s hands CAIRO: The National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NRTA) reaffirmed Wednesday its decision not to levy monetary penalties on the new third mobile operator, Etisalat Egypt, for failing to initiate its services in February. NTRA Chairman Amr Badawy said the company has faced circumstances beyond its control, causing it …