Let us not overlook the fertilizers industry as Egypt struggles to reform its tangled web of subsidies.
The government has been providing local urea fertilizer producers with cheap natural gas, their main input, for years. In return, the producers (...)
While most eyes last month were on the flotation of the currency and an increase in the prices of fuel, Egypt made another significant reform that did not get nearly as much attention.
Under a new law published in the official gazette on November (...)
When Egypt's central bank devalued the pound on March 14, it prompted some economists to speculate that the government would soon approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan agreement.
But unless there is a major change in thinking, (...)
CAIRO: In all but ruling out an early agreement on an IMF loan, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has dramatically raised the stakes in its struggle with the army-led administration for control of a country still reeling from a year of political (...)
CAIRO: Egypt's government will begin selling three-year certificates of deposit (CDs) to Egyptians living abroad on Tuesday in a bid to reduce the country's balance of payments shortfall and help fund its budget deficit.
A year of political (...)
DUBAI/CAIRO: Egypt's main index fell 0.8 percent on Tuesday to its lowest close since Feb. 6, on its sixth day of decline.
An Egyptian court halted on Tuesday a move to create a new constitutional assembly pending a ruling on its legality, a move (...)
CAIRO: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has warned the government it will not support an IMF loan unless the terms are changed or it moves aside and allows a new administration to oversee how the funds are spent, its candidate for president said on (...)
CAIRO: Egyptian stocks fell to eight-week lows on Monday after the Muslim Brotherhood challenged the government to change the terms of an emergency IMF loan, showing political powers remain far apart on how to stave off a payments crisis.
Muslim (...)
CAIRO: Growing local appetite for medium-term Egyptian government debt helped push the average yield on three-year bonds lower at an auction on Monday and market watchers said investors were shifting some funds from short-term tenors.
Egyptian (...)
CAIRO: Egypt's economic growth will remain relatively anemic in the coming fiscal year as political uncertainty drags on and the global outlook remains weak, but growth should pick up in the following year, a Reuters poll showed on (...)
DUBAI/CAIRO: Egyptian group EFG Hermes and Qatari Islamic investment bank QInvest are in talks about a possible merger of some operations to create an investment bank covering the Arab world, Africa, Turkey and south and southeast Asia.
The (...)
CAIRO: Egypt's balance of payments slid into a deficit of $5.65 billion in the politically-fraught final quarter of 2011, turning around a year-earlier surplus of $557.0 million, central bank figures indicated on Sunday.
Egypt's economy had been (...)
CAIRO/DUBAI: Egypt's bourse made its largest single-day loss in four months as fresh political tensions, gasoline shortages and a transport strike hurt investor sentiment, while most other Gulf indices rose thanks to upbeat global (...)
CAIRO: Egypt's central bank is expected to leave its key interest rates unchanged this week after inflation increased only mildly in February and following a cut in the reserve requirement on local currency deposits that should help to spur (...)
CAIRO: Egypt's central bank kept its overnight deposit and lending rates unchanged on Thursday, in line with expectations after inflation increased only mildly in February and following a cut in the reserve requirement on deposits to help spur (...)
CAIRO: Talks over an International Monetary Fund loan for Egypt are continuing and will take a few weeks, rather than days, to conclude, IMF Middle East and Central Asia director Ahmed Masood told Reuters on Monday.
Egypt formally requested a (...)
DUBAI/CAIRO: After a sharp setback last week, stock markets in the United Arab Emirates have resumed rising in high trading volumes, but some analysts say the rally remains fragile as much of it is speculative and depends on a benign global (...)
CAIRO: Egypt is pinning its hopes on natural gas to help it reduce energy subsidies that are eating up 20 percent of its state budget and are likely to continue growing if measures aren't taken soon.
For years, the government has resisted cutting (...)
CAIRO: The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's political wing supports Egypt's request for an IMF loan, but first it wants the government to produce a coherent plan to battle corruption and get costs under control, its economic policymakers say.
The (...)
CAIRO: Egypt has received a $1.2 billion credit facility from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to help it pay for commodity imports, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Faiza Aboul Naga said.
The loan, signed (...)
CAIRO: A decline in Egypt's net foreign reserves slowed dramatically in February, reducing pressure on the central bank to allow a rapid devaluation of the country's currency.
Foreign reserves fell by only $636 million after having tumbled by (...)
CAIRO: Egypt's interim government will have to muster all its skills of persuasion to sell austerity measures to a country weary after a year of political and economic strife, if details emerging on Cairo's planned deal with the IMF are anything to (...)
CAIRO: Egypt's Orascom Telecom Media Technology (OTMT) said on Wednesday it hoped to wrap up negotiations within a few weeks with France Telecom over the sale of most of its stake in Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil.
Under the terms of a (...)
CAIRO: Egypt will offer its citizens living outside the country $2 billion in three- and five-year certificates of deposit (CDs) within one or two weeks, the finance minister said on Wednesday.
The CDs will carry an interest rate of "no more than (...)
CAIRO: Egypt plans to offer US-dollar certificates of deposit (CD) to Egyptians living abroad at the beginning of March to help it raise foreign currency, Al-Borsa newspaper on Tuesday quoted Finance Minister Mumtaz Al-Saeed as saying.
Egypt has (...)