Move may be precursor to privatization CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak issued a decree yesterday to form a holding company for insurance, bringing the four main public insurance firms as well as the country s only reinsurance company under the Ministry of Investment s asset management program. The newly-formed entity complements the nine other holding companies …

ADB continues participation in development CAIRO: Egypt has been awarded a loan of $500 million (LE 4.2 billion) from the African Development Bank (ADB), which will be used to support the country s structural and financial reform program, also known as the Financial Sector Reform Program. The program, launched in September 2006, constitutes part of …

CAIRO: While there is no denying the success that Egypt has been enjoying in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country over the past two years, it is also understood that to continue with this upward curve that more investors, and more investment, has to be encouraged through making new opportunities available in many …

CAIRO: The government said on Wednesday it had short-listed six candidates to buy a 75-80 percent stake in the state-owned Bank of Alexandria, and will allow them to carry out due diligence checks on the business. The central bank said in a joint statement with the investment ministry that it would take final financial and …

NOOZZ CAIRO: Misr Company for Settlement, Clearance and Central Depository (MSCD) signed evening a new contract with Atos-Euronext Company earlier this week to set up a new financial information operation for the first time in Egypt to provide its services to local security brokerage companies and banks. Hany Seri-Eddin, chairman of the Capital Market Authority, …

Move makes UAE company single largest shareholder in bank CAIRO: Thanks to an offer made by UAE-based Abraaj Capital Limited, a private equity firm, to buy a 25 percent in Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes, Egyptian share prices witnessed a boost earlier this week. According to an EFG Hermes statement, EFG’s board met in Cairo …

CAIRO: Having recently been downgraded by the ratings agency Moody s, National Bank of Egypt (NBE) will share a capital injection of $1 billion (LE 5.7 billion) with the Banque Misr. Central Bank of Egypt Deputy Governor Tariq Amer announced the capital increase of the nation s two largest banks without specifying the proportion of …

CAIRO: Egyptian mobile phone service operator MobiNil said on Monday it would defer making a decision on whether to apply for a license for higher-bandwidth 3G technology for a year because conditions were unattractive . At this point the board has elected not to pursue such an endeavor, Chief Executive Alex Shalaby told analysts in …

Winner of Egypt s third mobile license puts rumors to rest CAIRO: Etisalat, the UAE-based mobile operator that was recently awarded the third Egyptian mobile license, will not be selling any of its shares to anyone at this time, according to Etisalat chairman, Mohammad Hassan Omran. The chairman’s statement comes hot on the heels of …

NOOZZ CAIRO: Egyptian natural gas exports amounted to 1.9 trillion cubic feet (or 40 million tons) during fiscal year 2005-6, according to the Egyptian Holding Company for Natural Gases, EGAS. Chairman of EGAS, Sherif Ismail, said exploration of natural gas hit 5 trillion cubic feet a year over the past six years with strong expectations …

CAIRO: The Egyptian communication company Orascom Telecom (OT) pulled out from the contest over 70 percent of Serbian Mobi 63 Company that the Serbian government has marked for privatization. The move came after the Egyptian company had been included among the shortlist of qualified regional and international bidders in the deal. Naguib Sawiris, chairman of …

CAIRO: Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohammad Rachid has admitted that disagreements do exist with the United States over intellectual property rights on pharmaceutical products. In a statement released at the end of last week following his return from strategic dialogue meetings in Washington D.C., Rachid pointed out that the Egyptian Ministry of Health …

Egypt s future in light of the WTO stalemate CAIRO: The Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) kicked off in Qatar five years ago in hopes of bridging the gap between industrialized nations and emerging economies. Having already given some concessions on tariffs for goods in previous negotiations, and with industrialized nations led …

CAIRO: Private aviation companies have come under severe pressures by the Israeli war on Lebanon. At the top of these pressures, comes the rising international fuel prices as oil prices surged to $78 a barrel. In addition, international insurers have increased prices of their policies covering aviation risks, which represented a blow to 98 percent …

Israeli aggression on Lebanon redirects regional tourism CAIRO: Experts in the field of investment in Egypt have confirmed that the Israeli attacks on Lebanon will affect tourism and investments, as tourists who previously planned to head to Israel and Lebanon turn to Egypt as a vacationing haven. As a result of this sudden growth in …

CAIRO: Egyptian auto production surged 40 percent in 2005 compared with a year earlier according to figures from the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles (OICA). “Egypt’s local automotive production in 2005 mounted to 69,233 units compared with 49,335 a year ago, the OICA said. Local production of light trucks jumped 97 percent to 14,626 units …

MCDR creates joint venture with Atos Euronext to help brokers provide electronic trading CAIRO: The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has begun entertaining applications for online trading licenses and has approved Al-Arabia Online as the first provider of brokerage services on the internet. Meanwhile, Misr Clearing, Settlement and Central Depository (MCDR) will sign an agreement with …

Austrade s Peter Linford discusses the office s strategy for the next year, dismisses long term effect of Israeli-Lebanese conflict CAIRO: With the Israeli offensive in Lebanon, political and economical instability mark the region. Financial growth that was achieved in the past year is now jeopardized. But according to Peter Linford, after assessing the work …

Executive says exports necessary to attract investment and exploration CAIRO: Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) Chairman Sherif Ismail announced that the price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) sold to Spain was, on average, five times the price afforded to domestic consumers in the last fiscal year ending Jun. 2006. The state-owned EGAS has a …

Joint project between the Egyptian government and World Bank designed to advance reform measures in energy sector CAIRO: The Egyptian government has announced that it will spend $470 million (LE 2.7 billion) to build a 700-megawatt power plant in southern Cairo. The World Bank has also announced that it will help finance the project with …

CAIRO: After nearly two weeks of Israel s massive offensive against Lebanon, the Egyptian stock market recovered all the losses it made in the initial days of the crisis. The CASE-30 index, which tracks the top 30 stocks on the exchange, fell by an average of 4 percent per day in the first three days …

CAIRO: Aside from situations of distress, auctioning real estate is a relatively new concept in Egypt. Traditionally, auctions are associated with negative circumstances, such as bankruptcy and seizure. But these views are being challenged with a number of auctions having been carried out of late as a conventional method of selling real estate. This is …

CAIRO: State-owned Suez Steel Co., one of the largest net-importers of billets in the market, with the most modern facility in the Middle East region, is finally on sale. After a year and a half of deliberation, arguments over the conditions of the sale, a close-call crash for the Egyptian industry with the entrance of …

DUBAI: United Arab Emirates telecom firm Etisalat is looking to sell a part of its stake in the consortium that won Egypt s third mobile phone license, a UAE newspaper reported on Tuesday. Etisalat, or Emirates Telecommunications Corp, has a 66 percent stake in the consortium that paid LE 16.7 billion for the license; almost …

BELGRADE: Austrian, Egyptian and Norwegian companies won the right Wednesday to bid for Serbia s biggest mobile telecoms operator at an auction later this month, the government said. The three are Mobilkom Austria, Orascom Telecom and Telenor. They were selected from a list of 10 companies that had applied to buy a 70-percent stake in …

CAIRO: All eyes have turned to Egypt’s North Coast as another hefty tourism development project goes on sale. Once again, the government is shopping around for investors keen on reaping profits from the North Coast, the tourism industry’s newest cash cow. This time, a $6.8 billion international tourism resort development project in Sidi Abdul Rahman …

Comprehensive energy policy still absent CAIRO: With no warning, the government decided to increase the prices of gasoline and other oil products last Thursday. The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper announced the decision the following day, at the start of a long weekend. Fuel prices at the pump immediately increased in line with the announcement. The price …

DUBAI: United Arab Emirates telecom firm Etisalat is looking to sell a part of its stake in the consortium that won Egypt s third mobile phone license, a UAE newspaper reported on Tuesday. Etisalat, or Emirates Telecommunications Corp, has a 66 percent stake in the consortium that paid LE 16.7 billion for the license; almost …

Agence France-Presse CAIRO: Fifty years after its nationalization, the Suez Canal is more vital than ever to Egypt s economy and revenues from transit fees look set to continue a spectacular rise. Since the first oil crisis in 1973 and the soaring prices, the economic importance of the canal for Egypt never ceased to grow …

CAIRO: MobiNil has just announced the launch of a voice SMS service, known to the rest of the world as voice mail. With this launch, the telecom industry in Egypt is moving into new frontiers . or rather, into old ones that have never before been offered in Egypt. With this strategic offering, MobiNil, the …