CAIRO: Egypt s state security prosecutor on Saturday referred a Lebanese man and British woman to court on charges of fraud and money laundering of $ 2.5 million, a judicial source said. Salim Ali Al-Dada and British subject Rosa Samuel were accused of defrauding an Egyptian doctor of some LE 14 million ($ 2.5 million) …

Younis: El Kremat Plant output to surpass High Dam by 150 percent CAIRO: Civil works are set to begin this month to prepare El Kremat Power Plant for the upgrading of the Kremat 3 station to add 750 megawatts in annual output capacity, Minister of Electricity and Energy Hassan Younis said. Negotiations are now underway …

CAIRO: Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid expects the US investment stock in Egypt to hit $18 billion by the end of 1H2007, growing 12.5 percent from the 2006 figure. During his meeting with members of the annual Door Knock Mission to the US on Thursday, Rachid said the stock of US investments …

CAIRO: State-owned insurance companies have urged the Ministry of Investment and industry regulators to increase premiums on the mandatory automotive insurance and to put a cap on claims’ value. The insurers cited recent losses in the mandatory automotive insurance segment as a result of low premiums vis-à-vis the inherent risks. Nozhy Ghalium, managing director of …

CAIRO: The national insurance market has entered into a new phase of price wars between companies amid charges launched against regulators of neglecting the perilous impacts of price competition on the insurance activities. Elhamy El-Kady, general secretary of the Insurance Federation of Egypt, told reporters last week that the majority of companies have joined in …

CAIRO: Stocks closed higher on Thursday for the third session in a row, buoyed by positive financial results from Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals and bids and buyouts from listed Egyptian companies, traders said. Sidi Kerir said on Thursday its net profit for 2006 had jumped 26 percent to LE 1 billion ($176 million). Traders said the …

CAIRO: The national balance of payment surplus surged to $2.9 billion from July to December of FY2006-2007 compared with $2.6 billion a year earlier. The upsurge of balance of payment surplus contributed to rising foreign currency reserves at the Central Bank of Egypt over the same period. The CBE said in a statement Wednesday that …

CAIRO: The Egyptian Holding Company for Metallurgical Industries has extended the period for accepting proposals on its 83.1 percent stake in the Arab Company for Special Steel (ARCOSTEEL) after the recent government decision to impose taxes on steel exports. A senior official at the holding company told reporters on Thursday that investors voiced intentions that …

One year program to measure growth of companies receiving assistance. CAIRO: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is initiating a program to measure the progress of its Business Edge Advisory Services (Beas) program in Egypt. The program has been providing training to assist the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt and nine other …

Naguib Sawiris ranks 62 and six Arabs made the list The annual listings include rank, name, home country or state, age where known, wealth in billions of dollars and source of the money. Forbes says the research that went into compiling the rankings began in early 2006 and ended on Feb. 9, 2007. 1. Bill …

CAIRO: Chairman of Saudi Jihan Holding Group Ahmad Badib has blamed the Egyptian Ministry of Investment for delaying production from the polyester industrial complex that the Saudi group has established in cooperation with Egyptian investors in Alexandria at a total cost of $550 million. Jihan Group holds a 50 percent stake in the Egyptian Saudi …

Gabr: company looking for more development opportunities on Red Sea, area between Luxor and Aswan CAIRO: Negotiations over changing the ownership structure of Emaar Misr are ongoing and “all scenarios are open, Emaar Misr Chairman Shafik Gabr said Wednesday. Gabr declined to disclose the details of deliberations taking place between his company, Artoc Group, a …

CAIRO: Cement Merchants League at the Egyptian Federation of Commerce Chambers has sealed an agreement with the Ministry of Trade and Industry to open up ten outlets for distribution of cement in Greater Cairo as an attempt to put an end to rising cement prices in the local market. Ezzeddin Awad, head of the Cement …

Country-wide digital maps of chicken farms are one way of resisting bird flu The success of an initiative taken by the Desert Research Center in Cairo, to create a data-base of all chicken farms in the Qalubia governorate, is encouraging agricultural authorities to press ahead with plans to expand that data-base to include chicken farms …

CAIRO: Egypt became the sixth Arab country on Tuesday to adopt an Action Plan in the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy, paving the way for the establishment of a free trade zone inclusive of the European Union and neighboring countries by 2010. A delegation of ministers headed by Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit signed …

LISBON: Portuguese cement company Cimpor said on Tuesday it will not proceed with the acquisition of Egypt s Misr Cement Qena after it failed to buy enough shares to control the Egyptian group. Portugal s biggest cement company had offered LE 80 a share for up to 100 percent of the 30 million shares in …

CAIRO: The main Egyptian stock indexes fell more than 2 percent on Monday, pulled down by similar declines on markets around the world. Traders said that Orascom Telecom and Orascom Construction Industries led the way down because they figure so prominently in the portfolios of foreign investors. Other shares then followed, they added. Those two …

Metro Authority proposes combining phases 1 and 2 of Line 3 construction CAIRO: The Ministry of Transportation s Metro Authority (MA) has allocated LE 1 billion to modernize Metro Line 1, stretching from Helwan to El Marg, for upgrades scheduled until the end of 2008. According to a MA statement, most of the funds will …

Reuters CAIRO: Egypt has diversified its foreign exchange reserves over the past 18 months by cutting its holding of U.S. dollars to around 57 percent of the total from more than 90 percent, central bank Governor Farouk El-Okdah said on Monday. The weighting of reserve currencies now matched the country s debts and trading pattern, …

CAIRO: The median overnight interbank rate on the Egyptian pound rose slightly to 8.85 percent on Tuesday from 8.811 percent on Monday because of a central bank auction, traders said. The central bank was auctioning 7-day certificates of deposit (CD) for LE 10 billion on Tuesday, which helped to push rates up slightly. One trader …

CAIRO: Thousands of Egyptian workers left Libya for home last week after they were found to lack the necessary papers, a security source said on Sunday. Most returned from the neighboring country by road, passing through Sallum crossing on the countries northern frontier, the source said, estimating the total number of those who had left …

13,000 borrowers owed LE 1.5 billion to public banks at the end of 2006 CAIRO: Central Bank Governor Farouk El Okdah announced Monday the launch of a program to settle the non-performing loans of 13,000 borrowers amounting to LE 1.5 billion by June, 2007. According to the plan, borrowers with less than LE 500,000 in …

CAIRO: Egyptian stocks bounced back from recent dips on Tuesday with the real estate sector and related building and construction stocks boosted by foreign investors, traders said. Traders said six of the most heavily-traded stocks in the session were related to the real estate sector, including cement stocks, bucking a recent downward trend in the …

CAIRO: Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Friday that Egypt has always been among the first supporters of a demand to enlarge the African membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), according to reports from the State Information Service. Speaking to reporters, the minister said Africa should have permanent representation on the international council, …

Cash to support “Egypt’s own political reform agenda, says EU CAIRO: In the name of promoting democratic reforms in Egypt, the European Union is providing the Mubarak government with a massive new aid package worth ?558 million. The cash, which is to be doled out over a four-year period, is also earmarked to implement the …

CAIRO: Phone carrier Orascom Telecom said it had expressed interest in a stake in Brasil Telecom held by Telecom Italia. In a statement issued on Friday, Orascom – which is headed by Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris – said its interest in the stake was in line with its investment strategy. Shares in Brasil Telecom had …

CAIRO: Egyptian stocks trimmed losses to close higher on Thursday, with Telecom Egypt rising on demand from foreign investors and Ezz Dekheila gaining despite a 15 percent drop in 2006 net profit. Major Egyptian stocks skidded around 3 percent on Wednesday on the back of a global market sell-off but the market recovered in Thursday …

CAIRO: Egyptian banks have joined-in a race to introduce technologies designed to improve management performance, causing parallel competition among technology companies providing core-banking solutions. In this context, the Informer Egypt Company has agreed with the Al Watany Bank of Egypt to supply technology solutions for the bank s Department of Credit to promote its retail …

Mansour: passengers to feel improvements in 24 months CAIRO: Minister of Transportation Mohamed Mansour announced his office is preparing to order 40 more General Electric (GE) locomotives within March to help modernize the country s ailing railroad system. Mansour said the ministry has decided against ordering from two Chinese manufacturers because of its lack of …

CAIRO: The third mobile phone operator in Egypt Etisalat will start business in the domestic market by the end of March, according to Hassan Samy, sales officer at Etisalat Egypt. Samy said on Wednesday that the company has officially informed the National Telecom Regulatory Authority that it will operate under the brand name of Etisalat. …