| Egypt's External Debt Spikes 17.2% YoY: CBE Egypt's external debts have increased by 17.2 percent year on year at the end of June 2018 to reach $92.6 billion, with Reuters estimating that it could hike to $98.9 billion by the end of the year. In June 2017, the country's foreign debt stood at $79 billion. The burden of foreign debt service reached $13.2 billion during the 2017/2018 fiscal year, compared to $7.320 billion in the previous fiscal year, according to Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) figures. In early September, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced the figures in an interview with Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan, attributing the surge in foreign debts to the country's increased borrowing in order to bridge the funding gap and ease the shortage of foreign currencies in the market. CBE also said Egypt's net balance of domestic debts reached EGP 3.1 trillion ($173.4 billion) in June, an increase of EGP 434.4 billion. The external debt-to-GDP ratio increased to 37 per cent in the 2017/2018 fiscal year, compared to 33.6 percent in the previous year. On Thursday, Reuters said it had obtained government documents revealing that Egypt has set its external borrowing ceiling at $16.733 billion for the 2018/2019 fiscal year. The country will borrow $10.5 billion for the repayment of external debt during said period, with the total external government debt expected to reach $98.9 billion. Egypt has borrowed heavily from abroad since it began an ambitious economic reform program in late 2016 when it signed a $12 billion three-year loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Earlier this month, the country signed a $3 billion financing deal with the World Bank. | | Egypt's Agriculture Exports Up 8% YTD Egypt's agricultural exports jumped 8 percent in 2018 year to date, with figures expected to further increase as more countries lift bans on some Egyptian agricultural products. The country has exported 4.4 tons of agricultural products so far this year, up from 4.07 tons in the same period last year, according to Minister of Agriculture Ezz El-Din Abu Steit. Egypt's highest agricultural exports were citrus fruits at 1.6 million tons followed by potatoes at over 759,000 tons. Abu Steit said that the country managed to enter new markets by exporting garlic to Indonesia, tomatoes to Canada and grape seedlings to Morocco. Last week, Saudi Arabia's environment ministry lifted a ban it enforced in December 2017 on importing Egyptian guava after Egypt began to implement new exportation rules to decrease its pesticide residues. | | Oil & Gas  Egypt Offers 'Promising' New Production Model for Foreign Oil, Gas Firms Egypt is working on a new production sharing model with foreign energy companies to encourage oil and gas exploration in deep waters as the country heeds requests from big oil companies, Reuters quoted Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla as saying on Thursday. El-Molla, in a US business meeting in Cairo, described the new model as a "simpler way of having the calculations with our partners," with companies offered a share of production in exchange for bearing the costs of exploration and production. The minister added that the feedback his ministry has received from oil companies so far is "very positive," with companies "enthusiastic to participate in the bid round on this basis." "It will be all together and one figure that includes cost recovery and the profit share of the partner, so we don't go towards what we call cost recovery audits, which sometimes take effort, [create] arguments between different departments and … for new frontier areas, it wouldn't be encouraging," he elaborated. The country has set a goal of becoming a regional energy hub following the 2015 discovery of giant gas field Zohr, which holds an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas. The country has recently announced that its natural gas production has increased by 10 percent to reach 6.6 billion cubic feet per day, owing to an increase in the production of the Mediterranean gas field of Zohr. | | Etisalat Egypt Achieves $565 Mn in Revenues in First 9 Months of 2018 Etisalat Egypt recorded EGP 10.1 billion ($565 million) in revenues in the first nine months of 2018, a 20 percent year on year increase. In the first nine months of 2017, the company had recorded EGP 8.7 billion ($486.7 million) in revenues. Earlier this year, the company, which started operating in the country over 10 years ago, announced an increase in its paid capital by over 23 percent to EGP 19.4 ($1) billion. | | MOPCO's Net Profits Almost Double in First 9 Months of 2018 Misr Fertilizers Production Company's (MOPCO) net profits rose by 44.9 percent in the first nine months of 2018 year on year to reach EGP 937.6 ($52.5) million compared to EGP 646.9 million last year. The company's sales also increased, registering EGP 1.9 billion ($106.3 million) compared to EGP 1.8 billion during the same period last year, according to a bourse filing. The state-owned company, established in 1998, operates in fertilizers and agricultural chemicals and has been listed on the bourse since 2015. | | GGTT to Seal Deal With KT Corporation, SCA to Boost HQ's Internet Speed Egypt-based Giga Global For Telecom and Technology (GGTT) will sign an agreement today with KT Corporation, formerly Korea Telecom, and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) to boost SCA headquarter's internet speed via the utilization of new technology. The deal will be signed in the presence of SCA Chairman Mohab Mamish and the acting Korean ambassador to Cairo, Al-Mal newspaper reported on Thursday. Former CEO and Managing Director of Telecom Egypt Osama Yassin is the current president of GGTT. He has over 30 years of experience in public administration, project management, GSM networks and information technology, according to the newspaper. Yassin was also a member of Telecom Egypt's board of directors from October 2013 until May 2015, after which he was appointed as CEO of the company before leaving in 2017. | | Foreign Direct Investment Egypt Poised to Reduce Number of Civil Employees to Lure Foreign Investments Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Thursday Egypt would soon introduce a reform to government apparatuses that envisages a smaller cabinet and fewer civil employees, in a bid to lure foreign investment and deal with bureaucracy. "We are working now through the ministries of planning and telecommunications to a structural reform of the government," Madbouly said during his meeting with a delegation of 44 US companies in Cairo. "At least 38 percent of employees in the public sector will be retired in the next 10 years." According to Madbouly, the restructuring proposals are linked to the state's plans to move the seat of government to the New Administrative Capital east of Cairo, which is still under construction and scheduled for completion next year. The premier said that "starting from the beginning of 2019 many government services will be available online." Egypt has been seeking to digitalize many of its services. In September, Egypt's finance ministry announced that the collection of government payments and dues would be carried out electronically in various government bodies starting January 1. For the 2017/2018 fiscal year, Egypt's budget deficit comprised 9.8 percent of the GDP, down from 10.9 percent in the prior fiscal year, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk told news conference in July. Government employees' salaries amount for almost one fifth of the 2018/2019 budget. | | Sisi Invites Chinese Companies to Make More Investments in Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi yesterday received Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan and discussed means to boost bilateral cooperation between both countries and promote direct Chinese investments in Egypt. During their meeting, El-Sisi highlighted the importance of the strategic partnership between Egypt and China, calling on Chinese companies to make more investments in Egypt, according to presidential spokesman Bassam Rady. For his part, Qishan hailed Egypt's economic reform program as well as its efforts to complete several major national projects in a short period of time, which he said had encouraged major Chinese companies to invest in Egypt. Investment Minister Sahar Nasr said last month that around 1558 Chinese companies are currently investing in various sectors in Egypt, including IT, electricity, telecommunications and transport. El-Sisi visited Beijing in September, signing five agreements with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. The president heads today to Germany in an official four-day visit, during which he will discuss with German Chancellor Angela Merkel bilateral relations, the region's issues, efforts to confront terrorism and the refugees' issue. El-Sisi will also participate in a mini summit with African leaders at the G20 summit, according to the State Information Service (SIS) | | Oil & Gas Apache says Invested Over $1 Bn in Egypt's Oil Sector in 2018 Investments of the US-based energy corporation Apache in Egypt's oil sector exceeded $1 billion in 2018, according to David Chi, vice-President and general manager of Apache Egypt. Chi lauded the country's economic reforms as bringing more investments into the oil and natural gas sectors. He also commended the new natural gas law as liberalizing the gas market. Apache CEO John Christmann said earlier in August his company had a plan to boost its annual oil and natural gas exploration investments in Egypt to about $1 billion. During a meeting with Oil Minister Tarek El Molla, he said Apache was eyeing new opportunities in Egypt under its current five-year strategy. Apache and the EGPC signed in July a $9 million exploration agreement for blocks in the Western Desert and said it planned to begin drilling this year. Egypt is pursuing its efforts to lure more foreign oil companies as part of its strategy to become a regional energy hub. | | Top Alexandria Official Arrested on Bribery Charges The Administrative Control Authority arrested late last week the head of the municipal division of Alexandria's western district, Abdel-Rahman Mansour, on charges of receiving EGP 30,000 (around $1,680) in bribes, local media reported. Mansour, who was appointed to that position early last month, is facing charges of accepting bribes from a contractor in return for overlooking grave administrative violations. Late last year, security forces arrested Deputy Governor of Alexandria Soad El-Kholy on charges of taking bribes of more than EGP 1 million (around $56 thousand) from five businessmen in return for issuing decisions to suspend demolition orders of facilities that were established illegally on lands owned by the government. Investigations at the time confirmed that the deputy received money, material gifts and gold jewelry worth more than EGP 1 million from businessmen. | | Agriculture Ministry Vows to Resolve Tomato Crisis Which Resulted From 'Bad Crop' The Egyptian agriculture ministry said Thursday that the crisis of rising tomato prices would be resolved within days, attributing the problem to spoiled tomatoes planted around Egypt -- resulting in relatively low crop yields. "In the coming days, a new batch of tomatoes will be introduced and the crisis will be solved," said Hamed Abdel Dayem, spokesman for the ministry, adding that the affected areas were Wadi El Natrun and Nubaria in Beheira and Alexandria governorates north of Egypt. On October 6, a group of farmers suffered losses in their 2018 tomato crops due to the planting of imported tomato seeds of class "023," which were infected with tomato yellow leaf curl virus "TYLCV." Accordingly, the agriculture ministry was called on to investigate the crisis. The infected tomatoes were planted across nearly 10,000 acres in the said areas, with the cost of cultivating one acre of tomato estimated at EGP 50,000 ($ 2,797). Committees of the state-run Agricultural Research Center (ARC) are currently analyzing samples of the infected crops from different planted areas. | | EgyptAir Announces Leadership Reshuffle Amid Restructuring Efforts EgyptAir announced on Saturday a leadership reshuffle in its subsidiaries, less than a month after the country's national flight carrier said it was looking into restructuring the holding company. The company appointed Sherif Ezzat as an aide to the chairman of the EgyptAir Holding Company, Ashraf El-Kholy as head of EgyptAir Airlines and Sherif Khalil as head of EgyptAir Express. In late September, EgyptAir said it was considering hiring a consulting firm to restructure the holding company along with its nine subsidiaries. | | Region Minister Expects Rise in Food Exports After Sudan Lifts Ban on Egyptian Imports Food exports are set to bounce back in the near future after Sudan lifted a ban on Egyptian food imports, Minster of Trade and Industry Amr Nassar said on Friday. The ban saw Sudan-bound Egyptian exports plummet to $44 million after it took effect last year, down from $164 million in 2016, Nassar added. Sudan's decision to lift its ban on Egyptian food imports came during last week's Egyptian-Sudanese presidential summit in Khartoum, which ended on Thursday. In March 2017, Sudan banned the import of all Egyptian agricultural goods amid some political disputes. "The great support of the political leadership of the two countries is the main factor in the success of the efforts exerted," Nassar said in a statement. "Intensive meetings with the Sudanese side took place in which both sides stressed the importance of lifting all trade restrictions between the two countries." Meetings were held with relevant export councils to discuss means of raising export rates in order to benefit from the existence of land crossings between Egypt and Sudan and pave the way for Egyptian products to access the markets of COMESA's 21 African countries, the minister stated. "Sudan is the main gateway to this huge market," he added. |
| Salah Scores, Dishes Out Two Assists in Liverpool's Premier League Win Mohamed Salah continued his recent fine form, scoring and providing two assists to help Liverpool maintain their impressive run of results with a 4-1 victory over Cardiff City in the Premier League on Saturday. The Egyptian winger, who has discovered his scoring touch lately, opened the scoring early on with a composed finish after a blocked shot fell kindly at his feet. He also provided two astute passes to Swiss playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri and Senegalese forward Sadio Mane for further goals in the second half as Liverpool ran riot. Salah scored four goals in the last three matches in all competitions. The 26-year-old took his tally to 7 goals in 14 appearances so far this season, including five in the Premier League. | | Deals Telecom Egypt, FIBER Misr Ink Deal for Smart Cities Applications State-owned Telecom Egypt signed on Thursday a contract with telecommunications company FIBER Misr to develop applications for smart cities and digital communities. Under the deal, both companies will equip all smart cities in Egypt with the latest applications in the information and communications technology, according to an official statement. Telecom Egypt's CEO Ahmed El Beheiry said the agreement comes as part of the company's strategic plan for digital transformation as it aims to turn Egypt into a regional hub for data and a major platform for the internet of things and smart solutions. FIBER Misr is an Egypt-based telecommunications and information technology systems integrator, which is currently focusing on the Egyptian market with plans to expand regionally in the near future. | | Region Egypt Seeks to Thaw Ties With Ethiopia Under Newly Inaugurated President Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed with the newly appointed first female Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde means to boost cooperation between both countries as they seek to lay to rest tensions over a dam Ethiopia is building on the Nile River. "The president expressed his aspiration to further boost the cooperation and brotherly relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia as they work towards achieving common interests," Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement. Zewde, a veteran diplomat, was elected as president by Ethiopia's parliament on Thursday, becoming Africa's only current female head of state. She was sworn in following the sudden resignation of Mulatu Teshome, who has had held the post since 2013. As per the Ethiopian constitution, the position of president is a ceremonial role, with the prime minister holding executive power. Tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia have erupted in recent years over a controversial under-construction Ethiopian dam, the Grand Renaissance Dam, with Egypt expressing concern that the rate of filling the dam's reservoirs could reduce its share of Nile water, a concern Ethiopia dismisses as baseless. | | Saudi Arabia Rejects Turkey's Demands to Hand Over Khashoggi Murder Suspects Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said his country won't extradite the 18 suspects in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Istanbul, where the murder took place, rejecting a call by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "The individuals are Saudi nationals, they are detained in Saudi Arabia, the investigation is in Saudi Arabia," Adel Al-Jubeir said Saturday at the Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain. "They will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia." Al-Jubeir called the international outrage over the killing "fairly hysterical" and said that once the Saudi investigation was complete, the suspects would be held accountable "in Saudi Arabia." On Wednesday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who faced accusations form US President Donald Trump that he could have been involved in the killing of Khashoggi, had only strong words to denounce the murder of the US-based journalist. "The crime was really painful to all Saudis, and I believe it is painful to every human in the world. It is a heinous crime that cannot be justified," he stated. Veteran journalist Khashoggi, a US resident, a columnist for The Washington Post and a critic of Saudi Arabia's rulers, was killed on October 2 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul after what the Arab Gulf country called a "fistfight." | | Region Sisi Ratifies Agreement With Bahrain on Tax Evasion President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi ratified an agreement signed last July with the Kingdom of Bahrain on combating tax evasion, the official state gazette said on Thursday. Last July, Bahrain's monarch Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa also ratified the agreement as the two countries aim to combat tax evasion and avoid double taxation with regard to the income tax. Data issued early last year by Bahrain's labor market regulator showed that there were 9,334 Egyptians working in the Kingdom, out of 21,903 constituting the Egyptian community there. Egypt said last July that it planned to introduce major amendments to the tax code during the next legislative term to facilitate and streamline tax procedures and cut through red tape. | | Region Construction of KSA's Red Sea Tourism Project to Kick Off in 2019 Construction of Saudi Arabia's Red Sea tourism project is due to start in 2019, with the first phase set to open in 2022, CEO of the project's developer announced on Thursday. "The project's master plan is set to be completed soon," John Pagano, CEO of the Red Sea Development Company (RSDC), which is owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund and responsible for executing the Red Sea project, told Arab News. "[RSDC] haven't finalized exactly how big the first phase is, but it will be significant, maybe 10 or more hotels, but we want to finalize the master plan before we go to market. "Plans for the ambitious tourism development, which will span 50 islands off the Red Sea coast, include a nature reserve and heritage sites." Pagano's remarks were made on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum in Riyadh. "We will be represented by all the major luxury brands that are in the marketplace and some new brands that don't exist today," he said, adding that the project is intended to be "a force for good," given that it is billed as sustainable and eco-friendly and is expected to create 35,000 jobs. | | International Google Has Sacked 48 People Over Sexual Harassment Since 2016 Google has fired 48 employees, including 13 seniors, over sexual molestation accusations since 2016, revealed chief executive Sundar Pichai as he stressed the technology powerhouse was taking a "hard line" on misconduct. Pichai's comments came in a letter responding to a New York Times report that Android creator, Andy Rubin, had received a $90m exit package in spite of facing claims of inappropriate conduct. The US paper reported a spokesperson for Rubin as saying he did not commit any wrongdoing and only parted ways with Google in 2014 to establish a venture capital firm. Pichai said in his letter that the NYT story was "difficult to read" and that Google was "dead serious" about ensuring a secure working environment for everyone. "We want to assure you that we review every single complaint about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct, we investigate and we take action," he said. | | Microsoft Leapfrogs Amazon to Regain Spot as 2nd Most Valuable US Company Microsoft moved back to its place as the second most valuable US company Friday after Amazon.com's quarterly report of Wall Street revenue expectations signaled some $65 billion drop in the online retailer's market capitalization. Amazon saw its shares drop by 7 percent, the worst plunge in almost three years, after missing its holiday sales targets, losing the second spot to Microsoft for the first time since last April. Microsoft, meanwhile, was boosted by its cloud computing business. With over $1 trillion, Apple, which will report quarterly results on Thursday, is still on top of the list where Microsoft sat from late 1998 through to early 2000 before the dot-com bubble burst. | | Politics Time to Accept Israel, Move to a New World: Oman The Arab Gulf state of Oman said "it is time to acknowledge Israel's existence in the Middle East" while presenting ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians reconcile, albeit without acting as a mediator. "I will say this for the first time: Israel is a state that is present in this region and we all know this," Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf Bin Alawi said at the annual security conference in Bahrain on Saturday. "Maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same and also bear the same obligations as other countries. We are not saying that the road is now easy and paved with flowers, but our priority is to put an end to the conflict and move to a new world." The foreign minister said Oman is relying on the US and efforts by President Donald Trump in working toward the "deal of the century" or "Middle East peace." Bin Alawi made his comments a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Oman, which came days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a three-day visit to the Gulf country. Both leaders met with Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman. During the summit, Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa backed the sultanate's role in trying to settle Israeli-Palestinian peace, while Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the oil-rich kingdom believes "the key to normalizing relations with Israel is the peace process." | | Stock Market Global Markets Fluctuate Fiercely Amid 'Weak Confidence' Stocks on some markets fluctuated fiercely on Friday that trading was interrupted and in some cases suspended for the rest of the day despite a coordinated effort by central banks worldwide to cut interest rates this week and flood markets with liquidity. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index collapsed over 9.6 percent and ended the week down 24 percent, twice what it lost during the week of the October 1987 stock market crash. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 7.2 percent and Seoul's Kospi index fell around 4 percent. Trading was interrupted in a number of places, including Russia, Indonesia, Thailand and Austria. "There's too much uncertainty in the market," Sherman Chan, an economist with Moody's Economy.com in Sydney, Australia told ABC News on Friday. "Confidence is really weak." "It all goes back to the US and Europe. If they slow, the rest of Asia will suffer ... More needs to be done to kick-start the recovery process. We expect more turbulence." | |
