Latest in Tag: Market Highlight
Latest in Tag: Market
Spain borrowing costs dip but crunch looms
Spain still facing a huge repayment crunch, warned analysts
Beltone Financial forms joint-venture with Altree Capital
By Islam Serour Beltone Financial, a leading assets management company in Egypt, has formed a joint-venture company with the African asset management house Altree Capital, dubbed Altree Beltone Capital Ltd. Beltone Financial Holding, which reportedly ranked as the principal asset manager during the first half of 2012, is seeking to empower its position in the …
IMF Managing Director to visit Egypt
By Islam Serour Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, is scheduled to visit Cairo on 22 August for further discussions with President Mohamed Morsy over a possible IMF loan to Egypt. It has been reported that an IMF mission, led by Masood Ahmed, the IMF director for Middle East and Central …
British economy remains on course for more stimulus
AFP – Britain’s recession-hit economy remained on course for more cash stimulus despite an improved employment backdrop, minutes from the Bank of England’s latest monetary policy meeting showed Wednesday. Minutes from the BoE’s meeting at the start of August revealed that all of the central bank’s nine policymakers voted to keep interest rates at a …
Standard Chartered fined $340m over Iran deals
New York (AFP) – Standard Chartered has settled allegations that it helped Iranian clients dodge US sanctions, announcing a fine of $340 million from a New York banking watchdog. The “civil penalty” disclosed on Tuesday came amid allegations that the London-based bank hid 60,000 transactions with proscribed Iranian clients worth $250 billion over 10 years. …
Marriott teams up with Visa to offer free nights this summer
Leading hotel group Marriott International has teamed up with VISA in the Middle East and Africa to offer 3 nights stay for the price of 2, for the duration of the summer. The offer also includes 20% off all food and beverage at participating outlets. “At Visa, we know the summer season can be an …
Amer Group’s profits slump in first half
Amer Group made EGP 126.79 million net profits during the first half of 2012, a 37.1 percent decline compared to EGP 201.435 million in the same period last year. Riad Refaat, Investors Relations Manager at the company, explained that the decline in profits is understandable given the current economic circumstances, particularly in the real estate …
Cement prices fall as military takes control of Sinai
By Islam Serour Falling cement prices are attributable to decreased demand and the destruction of smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Rafah, Ahmed Al-Zeiny, the head of the Construction Materials Department at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, told the Daily News Egypt. These two reasons, according to Al-Zeiny, have contributed greatly to the drop in cement …
Minister of Industry: Government will protect domestic industries
By Mohamed Darwish Minister of Industry and Trade, Hatem Saleh, confirmed the Ministry will take measures to protect national industry. The Ministry hopes to put the Egyptian industrial sector on par with its international counterparts. The announcement comes while the Ministry is instating international trade laws and regulations. The decisions followed a meeting held by …
Presidential decision to drop debts of 41,000farmers
By Islam Serour The legal consultant to President Morsy, Mohamed Fouad Gadallah, announced that the president would issue a decision to drop agricultural debts owed by 41,000 farmers. “After meeting Dr Mohsen Al-Batran, Chairman of the Development and Agricultural Credit Bank (DACB) and head of Farmers Syndicate, an agreement to drop EGP 93 million, representing …
Controversial measures considered to combat power crisis
While a new power plant is launched, plans to close stores at 9 pm considered
Presidential spokesperson denies dropping farmers’ debts
By Islam Serour The President’s spokesman, Dr Yasser Ali denied rumours about dropping the debts of 62,000 farmers, indicating that the decision is still undergoing study and research. The rumour originated on the ‘Kolena Wael Ghonem’ (“We are all Wael Ghonem”) Facebook page which stated, “Morsy drops EGP 109 million of debts to the agricultural …
Telecom Egypt Board reshuffle sparks reactions
By Islam Serour The new reshuffle within Telecom Egypt’s (TE) board of directors has been met by discord from the company’s workers, as calls for protests against the reshuffle after the Eid holidays have circulated on Facebook and twitter. The reshuffle was applauded by Hani Mahmoud, Minister of communication and information technology, in a press …
IEA cuts global oil demand forecasts
Paris (AFP) — Faltering economic growth will undercut global oil demand this year and next, the International Energy Agency said Friday, citing slowdowns in China and the United States in particular. “Sluggish economic growth could restrict annual oil demand growth to 0.9 million barrels per day in 2012 and 0.8 mbpd in 2013, with demand …
Asian markets hit by weak China trade data
Hong Kong — Asian markets mostly fell Friday as weak Chinese trade data reinforced concerns of a slowdown in the world’s number two economy, while profit-taking after a week-long rally added to selling pressure. Wall Street provided a weak lead despite upbeat US jobs and trade data that indicated a positive outlook for the world’s …
SMEs receive support from Social Fund for Development
By Waleed Abel Azeem The National Bank for Development (NBD) is awaiting approval for an EGP 150 million grant from the Social Fund for Development Fund (SFD), according to Ahmad El-Masry, Director of Corporate Affairs at the bank. El-Masry said the grant would be directed to finance small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in according with …
Qatari loan to Egypt secured
By Islam Serour President Mohamed Morsy announced Sunday a $2 billion loan from Qatar to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), after meeting with the Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani in Cairo. In his first visit to Egypt Khalifa Al-Thani agreed to supply the Egyptian economy with the foreign currency deposits to bolster …
SMEs receive special treatment from the National Bank of Egypt
By Walid Abdelazeem The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) revealed that by the end of 2011, the bank will have financed small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to a total amount of EGP 1.5 billion. Director of SME Finance Department at NBE, Soha Soliman, stated that funding for the SMEs portfolio amounted to EGP 3.3 billion …
Real estate developers invest EGP 500m in New Cairo
The Council Director of the New Cairo District, Kamal Fahmi, revealed that 13 real estate development companies have benefitted from the financing leeway put in place during Prime Minister Ganzouri’s tenure, the facilitation for settling the outstanding debts for the lands acquired by the city. Fahmi stated that 13 companies paid EGP 500 million, which …
Central Bank: annual inflation rate dropped by 6.34 percent during last month
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced that the primary annual inflation rates in Egypt declined by 6.34 percent last July, compared to 7.04 percent last June. In a statement last Thursday, CBE announced that the monthly inflation rate increased to 0.58 percent last July, compared to 0.28 percent the preceding month. The inflation indicator …
US punts on Goldman Sachs prosecution
Washington (AFP) — Goldman Sachs escaped prosecution over its sales of high-risk mortgage securities Friday when the US Justice Department closed a probe without action despite a damning report on the bank’s practices. Following a two-year inquiry, senators concluded in April 2011 that the Wall Street investment banking giant misled clients ahead of the US …
European stocks slip
London (AFP) – European stock markets weakened Friday as poor Chinese trade data sparked fresh concern about slowing economic growth in the Asian powerhouse nation. London’s FTSE 100 index of top companies dipped 0.08 per cent to 5,846.37 points in morning deals, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 dropped 0.37 per cent to 6,939.68 and the Paris CAC …
Plan to increase support for Egyptian exports through IT solutions
The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) is working on its IT development exports programme and expanding its projects. ITIDA is pursuing a partnership with a foreign investment company to help it execute its strategy until the year 2020. ITIDA plans to increase support for Egyptian exports through the authority’s communication centre, in addition to …
Once-resilient Germany catches Europe’s crisis fever
Frankfurt (AFP) — Germany long appeared immune to Europe’s debt crisis, as deep reforms undertaken years ago helped steel the economic powerhouse against the current financial storms lashing its neighbours. But a raft of new economic data suggest that Germany, too, is slowly succumbing to the crisis fevers and could even fall back into recession …
Ghabbour Auto sees moderate rise in profits in first half of 2012
Ghabbour (GB) Auto’s profits in the first half of 2012 grew by 31.6 percent compared to the same period in 2011, reaching EGP 76.5 million. Revenues rose 23.3 percent to EGP 3.8902 billion. The company’s revenues in the second quarter reached EGP 2.1778 billion, a growth of 17.2 percent from the same quarter in 2011. …
France heads back into recession
Paris (AFP) — France is headed back into recession for the second time in three years, its central bank warned Wednesday in a setback for the recovery prospects of the stricken eurozone. In a downbeat survey of the outlook for Europe’s second biggest economy, the Bank of France predicted a 0.1 percent contraction in gross …
Another emergency plan to overcome power shortages
By Salah El-Manoufy The Ministry of Electricity is currently studying the possibility of implementing a third emergency plan in order to accommodate the high summer loads. Sources within the Ministry said that Mahmoud Balbaa, Minister of Electricity, tasked a number of his deputies to prepare a study about a third emergency plan. The Ministry will submit …
Delta Communication acquires CompuMe
Delta Communications and Trade (DCT) has taken 100 percent of shares in CompuMe, an electronics retail company. Amr Sheira, Deputy Manager of CompuMe, said that all the company’s shares and trademarks CompuMe were sold to DCT in the biggest acquisition agreement in communications sector since January. He refused to disclose the value of the agreement …
Standard Chartered hid huge Iran trade: NY
New York (AFP) — New York regulators accused Standard Chartered Bank of hiding $250 billion in transactions with Iranian banks for almost a decade in violation of US sanctions. Branding the London-based global financial giant a “rogue bank,” state regulators said Standard Chartered systematically disguised foreign exchange deals with Iran in a breach of controls …
Clinton urges South Africa to take leading role
Pretoria , South Africa (AFP) — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday called on South Africa, the continent’s leading democracy, to play a more influential role in African and global issues. “We are looking for ways to enhance and deepen our partnership. South Africa has so much to offer to the rest of …