| Trade Ministry, Siemens Sign Industry Development MoU Egypt's trade ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Berlin-based Siemens to improve the Egyptian industry's competitiveness. "Upon the deal, the German industrial conglomerate will provide Egypt with the state-of-the-art solutions and techniques in the digital transformation and automation field," the Egyptian presidency said in a statement. The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the G20 Conference on Africa, which is held in Berlin, in the presence of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. In July, El-Sisi inaugurated three giant electricity plants, provided by Siemens, to generate electric power for 40 million citizens, companies and factories. The plants are situated in the New Administrative Capital east of Cairo, Beni Suef in Upper Egypt and Burullus in the Nile Delta with a total capacity of 14.4 gigawatts. | | PM Hails Partnership With Private Sector to Reduce Public Debt Egypt Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has stressed the government's keenness to partner with the private sector to operate in as many fields as possible, saying that such partnership is one of the mechanisms to reduce public debt and increase investments. Madbouly's remarks were made during his meeting with a number of ministers, where he reviewed the role of the state's "Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Central Unit," according to a cabinet statement. The meeting tackled some challenges facing the implementation of the PPP program as well as positive measures taken to overcome them in order to promote participation in ways that achieve the government's development goals in Egypt. "Reference was also made to obligate the administrative bodies to finalize the licenses, approvals and permits, as well as the land allocation decisions necessary for the PPP projects," the cabinet added. In 2006, the finance ministry established the PPP Central Unit as part of a new long-term government policy of pursuing partnerships with the private sector. "The partnerships aim to provide a new source of investment capital, finance infrastructure projects, reduce the Egyptian government's sovereign borrowing and ease the burden on the budget," the ministry earlier said in a statement | Real Estate Tax Authority Head Samia Hussein Real Estate  Egypt Collects One-Third of Targeted Property Tax A total of EGP 2.14 billion ($119.5 million) in property taxes have been collected so far as Egypt seeks to generate EGP 6 billion, Head of the Real Estate Tax Authority Samia Hussein told local media. Hussein revealed that a number of incentives have been provided in the past few months to encourage more people to pay the real estate tax, including opening more venues to collect the money and extending their operating hours until 7:00 pm daily. She also said that some foreign embassies have been exempted from paying the tax on reciprocity basis. "Countries that require Egypt to pay property tax on its diplomatic buildings abroad will have to pay the tax," Hussein added. The deadline for paying the real estate tax, which has been in effect since 2013 but only enforced rigorously this year, was October 15. | | Smart Dubai, IBM to Launch First Govt-Endorsed Blockchain Platform in Middle East Smart Dubai and IBM have announced the launch of Dubai Blockchain Platform, the first government-endorsed blockchain platform in the United Arab Emirates. The platform is locally built and will serve as a stepping stone for organizations worldwide to transition their blockchain testing and development into full production. The blockchain platform is set to transform and digitize government processes and citizen services, according to a Smart Dubai statement. The announcement comes as Dubai has been leading efforts to encourage the use of blockchain, with a vision to make the emirate a paperless government by 2021. The Dubai Pay Blockchain Settlement and Reconciliation System, launched on September 23, will be one of the first projects to migrate onto the Dubai Blockchain Platform. Through this service, a process that used to take entities approximately 45 days to reconcile and settle payments with other government entities, banks and financial institutions, will be switched to real time. | | Nasser Social Bank to Release Pensions, Salaries Via Fawry Services State-owned Nasser Social Bank (NSB) has signed a memorandum of understanding with electronic payment network Fawry, under which the bank will release pensions and salaries via Fawry outlets using the client's ATM card. The MoU was signed by NSB Senior Vice President Sherif Farouk and Fawry Managing Director Ashraf Sabri. "The new service will save considerable time and effort for pensioners and employees, as well as all of the bank's clients, through the availability of more payment channels," Farouk said. "Fawry owns more than 80,000 outlets and points of sale, in addition to outlets, banking channels and e-portfolios of banks and telecom firms." A total of 359,000 pensions and 127,000 salaries are currently disbursed via the bank, he noted. Earlier this year, Fawry said that electronic bill payments made through the service increased from EGP 9 billion ($506.2 million) in 2015 to EGP 25 billion in 2017 with an average of 1.8 million daily electronic payments. | | Egypt Signs MoU to Fund Its First Actuarial Life Table African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re) will finance Egypt's first actuarial life table pursuant to a memorandum of understanding it has signed with the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), the capital market regulator. The actuarial table shows what the probability is that a person at a certain age will die before his or her next birthday. "There have been no attempts to create such a table since the entry of the insurance industry into the Egyptian society," FRA Chairman Mohamed Omran said. "The alternative was choosing the nearest English tables that can keep pace with the Egyptian experience in death and disability rates." Omran also stressed that the FRA will update the actuarial life table to comply with the international standards of life insurance markets. African Re aims to implement CSR initiatives that serve the insurance industry in African countries. | Raya Holding for Financial Investment Stock Market Raya Holding's Stock Jumps 10% Ahead of Mandatory Buyback Raya Holding for Financial Investment's stock jumped by 9.92 percent in Tuesday's session in anticipation of the company buying back 58 percent of its shares, as per a decision by Egypt's Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA). On Monday, the FSA said the company's CEO and Chairman Medhat Khalil and his associates have more shares in the company than what is legally permitted, hence Raya Holding will have to buy back all its shares before November 27. Khalil and his associates, who include his sons and a relative, should have owned a maximum of 33 percent of the company's shares, but they instead owned 42 percent. Raya Holding will have to make an offer that is not less than the company's average stock price in the six months preceding the FSA's decision. FSA has given Khalil and his associates two options -- either to sell some of their shares or make an offer to buy back its outstanding shares. Khalil told Al-Mal newspaper that they picked the latter option. | | Real Estate Egypt Seeks to Make Its Real Estate Market More Appealing to Foreigners The government has taken serious steps to make Egypt's real estate market more appealing to foreign buyers, whose number in the country is anything but satisfactory, said the deputy housing minister for national projects. Speaking to Almal GTM Real Estate Conference, Khaled Abbas revealed the ministry was seeking to simplify residency procedures, having studied other countries' experiences in an effort to enhance purchasing conditions for foreigners. He said foreign landlords can now obtain residency within less than 15 days through a process that includes security investigation and passport control's validation. In May 2017, the Cabinet approved an initiative by the Real Estate Development Chamber -- an affiliate of the Federation of Egyptian Industries -- to grant temporary residency to foreigners in return for buying a property worth at least $100,000, providing that this amount is transferred from outside of the country to the central bank. The step came as Egypt is in constant need of hard currency to buy basic foodstuff and fulfil its international obligations. Properties owned by foreigners around the world are estimated at $150 billion, of which Egypt's share is negligible, Abbas said. | | Egypt, Germany Sign $146 Mn Deal to Carry Out Various Projects Egypt and Germany signed a protocol of economic cooperation worth €129 (nearly $146) million to launch various projects in Egypt over the next four years. The agreement comprises projects in the sectors of energy worth €43 ($49 million), water (€39 million) and economic development (€45 million), the investment ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The protocol was signed by Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and German Development Minister Gerd Mueller during the third committee for bilateral cooperation between Egypt and Germany in Berlin. German investments in Egypt have reached $641.4 million through 1,103 companies, ranking the European powerhouse 20th among countries investing in Egypt, Nasr earlier stated. | | Orange DSL Turns Profit in 9 Months After Relieving Debt Burden Orange DSL, formerly known as Link DSL and a subsidiary of Orange Egypt, posted EGP 25.9 million ($1.5 million) in net profit for the first nine months of 2018, reversing the losses it had incurred over the last few years. The high-speed home Internet service provider had registered an EGP 130 million ($7.3 million) net loss in the first nine months of 2017. The return to profitability was ascribed to several factors, mainly a relief from the repayment of interest on debt the company was burdened with several years ago. The parent company's financial statements showed an EGP 21.4 million ($1.2 million) net income from internet services during the third quarter of 2018. Net earnings for the first half of 2018 reached EGP 4.5 million. Orange DSL's nine-month revenues slightly rose to EGP 546 million, from EGP 535 million in the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, the company's liabilities shrank to EGP 300 million by the end of September, from more than EGP 450 million by the end of September 2017. Investment spending fell to EGP 20 million in the first nine months of 2018, from EGP 46 million in the previous year. | | International Pfizer's Profits Hike 45% in Q3 2018 US pharmaceutical company Pfizer posted on Tuesday a 45 percent surge in its net income over the third quarter of 2018 to record $4.11 billion, up from $2.84 billion in the year-ago period. The company posted revenues of $13.29 billion during the same period, compared to $13.16 billion in the corresponding period last year, according to the company's recent financial report. However, analysts had expected Pfizer's revenues to hike to $13.53 billion over the third quarter of 2018. In its report, Pfizer lowered its revenue outlook for 2018 to range between $53-$53.7 billion, compared to a range of $53-$55 billion during the previous year. | | Coca-Cola's Profits Soar by 30% in Q3 2018, Beating Estimates Coca-Cola's profit surged 30 percent in the third quarter of 2018 to record $1.88 billion, up from $1.45 billion in the year-ago period, despite a decline in its revenue during the same period. The company generated $8.25 billion in revenue, a decline of about 9 percent from $9.08 billion a year ago, but still beating analysts' estimates of $8.1 billion, according to Coca-Cola's quarterly results. "Coca-Cola's diet soda sales and higher prices helped the company beat Wall Street earnings and revenue projections." For the adjusted earnings per share for 2018, the company said it is expecting it to grow between 8-10 percent, higher than its current forecast of 8.9 percent. | | Nintendo Q2 Profits Jump, But Not As High As Expected Japan's Gaming Company Nintendo's second-quarter profits have hit an eight-year high and grew 30 percent year on year to reach $274.1 million between July and September, thanks to the continued success of its Switch consoles and games. However, the figure still undershot the estimates of analysts. "Analysts were underwhelmed after estimating profits to reach $324 million," the Kyoto-based gaming company said on Tuesday. The revenues for the July-September period stood at $3.4 billion, up from $3.3 billion in the prior-year period. Nintendo's earnings were bolstered by sales of 42 million Switch games in April-September, versus 22 million in the year-ago period, "with upcoming titles generating a buzz among games fans," the company said. The gaming company is currently working to turn mobile gaming into an additional revenue stream, releasing its latest title, "Dragalia Lost," last month. Within weeks of its release, president of co-developer CyberAgent lauded the game as its "number one hit" over that time frame. | | Foreign Direct Investment Egypt Seeks to Strengthen Bilateral Trade With Morocco Egypt and Morocco are not currently each other's strongest economic allies yet they are willing to bolster their trade exchange, said the head of the Egyptian Commercial Service, an affiliate of the ministry of trade and industry. Speaking during the Egyptian-Moroccan Business Forum held yesterday in Cairo, Ahmed Antar revealed that the volume of Morocco's investments in Egypt amounted to $79 million, thus ranking it the 42nd among the top countries investing in the Egyptian market until the end of July 2018. There are 86 Moroccan companies operating in several fields in Egypt, including manufacturing, construction, agriculture and tourism, the official added. Meanwhile, Egypt's investments in the fellow North African state amounted to $249 million by the end of 2017. The trade exchange between Egypt and Morocco has reached $505 million, with Morocco's exports represented mainly in plastics, steel and aluminum products, according to Antar, while it imports vehicles, textiles and foodstuff products from Egypt. "The trade agreements will pave the way for both countries to magnify their trade exchange, most notable of which was the Agadir free-trade agreement that was concluded in 2004 by Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia," he added. Egypt has been actively working on luring back foreign direct investments that dried up after the 2011 uprising. Earlier this month, the United Nations Trade and Development Board (UNCTAD) said that Egypt remained the best investment destination in Africa during the first half of 2018, as total foreign investment inflows hiked to 24 percent compared to the first half of 2017. | | Oil & Gas BP's Q3 Profits Double On Back of Soaring Oil Prices British Petroleum's (BP) third quarter profits have doubled, rising to $3.8 billion and far exceeding forecasts of $2.85 billion, a five-year high for the company on the back of rising oil prices. The company's profits in the third quarter last year recorded $1.86 billion and $2.8 billion in the second quarter of 2018. Oil prices have soared nearly 17 percent so far this year, although crude has experienced its biggest monthly fall since mid-2016 due to worries over the global economy. On Tuesday, benchmark Brent crude oil was down $1.7 a barrel, a 2.1 percent decrease to $75.7. BP's production is set to rise further after the $10.5 billion acquisition of BHP Billiton's US shale business this week. The company has launched nine major fields, mostly gas, over the past year, including in Azerbaijan, Oman, Egypt and Angola that will help boost production by 900,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) by 2021. | | 34 Mental Hospital Staff to be Tried for 'Negligence' That Killed 10 Patients Thirty four doctors and administrators were referred on Tuesday to an urgent trial on charges of negligence that caused the deaths of 10 mentally-ill patients in Cairo's Khanka Mental Health Hospital more than three years ago. The hospital staff is accused of failing to take the required procedures to protect the patients from a heat wave from August 1-10 in 2015. They are also charged with failure to take necessary medical measures to treat them from symptoms related to excessive heat. The accused include the former hospital manager, his two deputies, four doctors, head and deputy head of the nursing department. The other defendants are 23 members of the nursing team, head of the patients' affairs office and an administrator in that office. | | Court Orders Release of Author of Book That Criticizes Egypt's Economic Policies A Cairo court released on Tuesday the author of a book critical of Egypt's economic record, nine days after his arrest on charges of publishing false news. Abdul Khalik Farouk, a prolific author with many published books in the field of economy, was arrested on October 21, a few days after draft copies of his book "Is Egypt Really a Poor Country?" were seized from the printing house. The owner of the print house was also arrested but released on Tuesday as well. Both were released without bail pending investigations into the case. Farouk's new book is said to carry criticism of the government's current economic policy, including the mismanagement of what he describes as Egypt's rich resources such as oil and gas, inadequate planning, failure to retrieve money hidden by former president Hosni Mubarak and general economic measures not in favor of the poor. | | Politics Israel Appoints 1st Female Ambassador to Egypt Israel has appointed its first female ambassador to Egypt since both countries signed their peace treaty in 1979, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. Amira Oron succeeds David Govrin, who has been serving as Israel's ambassador to Egypt since 2016. "Oron is a diplomat with extensive experience. She started working at the foreign ministry 27 years ago," read a statement released by the ministry. The diplomat, who started working for the Israeli Foreign Ministry in 1991, formerly served as a staff member of the Israeli embassy in Cairo, a deputy spokesperson for the Israeli foreign ministry and director of its department of communications in the Arab world. She is the second Israeli woman to serve as an ambassador in an Arab state after Einat Klein, who was Israel's ambassador to Jordan. Between 2015 and 2016, Oron served as the Israeli charge d'affaires in Turkey at a time of a diplomatic rift between the two countries in the wake of the Gaza-bound flotilla incident in 2010. | | International Germany's Unemployment Rate Hits Lowest October Level in Nearly 3 Decades Germany's unemployment rate slipped to 4.9 percent from 5 percent in September, with 2.204 million people registered as unemployed -- its lowest October level since reunification in 1990. The figure is also 53,000 fewer than the previous month and 185,000 fewer than 2017, the Federal Labor Agency said on Tuesday. In seasonally adjusted terms, the jobless rate was stationary at 5.1 percent, with 11,000 fewer people unemployed compared to September. Meanwhile, Japan's unemployment rate marked an all-time low sine 1992 with the rate dipping to 2.3 percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, down from 2.4 percent in August. | US President Donald Trump Trump Says Executive Order Underway to End US Birthright Citizenship US President Donald Trump said Tuesday an executive order is currently being planned to end what he has described as a "ridiculous" citizenship birthright to babies born to non-US citizens, in one of his most hardline immigration policies to date. "We're the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits," Trump said on television. "It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And it has to end." However, Trump's opponents questioned the legality of the matter, arguing that the constitution cannot be simply amended by an executive order and that it requires lengthier procedures. According to the US constitution's 14th Amendment, which came into effect following the Civil War, "all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens." Trump's previous immigration executive orders include an attempt to bar entry to citizens from some Muslim-majority countries. However, the order came under legal scrutiny after a chaotic drafting process. | |
