Until recently a net exporter of oil products, Egypt is now struggling to keep its industries running and its households lit.
Rising oil imports coupled with the economic doldrums of the post-revolutionary years have forced the government to take (...)
Egypt's trains keep making the news — the wrong type of news, the kind you don't want to hear about. Fires and twisted metal, collisions and derailments, faulty semaphore systems and crossing attendants who fall asleep on the job have all recently (...)
Ziad Bahaaeddin, the deputy prime minister, said last week that the country's currently suspended Islamic bonds, or sukuk, law would now be amended and reactivated.
While he did not reveal details of the amendments, aimed at luring foreign (...)
Less than a month after the decision to open the door to Egyptian rice exports, the cabinet decided on Thursday to re-impose a ban on all exports to all countries. The export ban came as rice traders had started to hold back their supplies to the (...)
Egypt is no stranger to shortages of medicines, but with shortages now being reported of nearly 600 pharmaceutical drugs possibly putting patients' lives at risk, medical workers have been sounding the alarm. This has also led to the Ministry of (...)
In this country, everyone complains about the subsidies that exist on many goods and commodities, the government more than most. These subsidies have been called a scourge on the budget, an impediment to development, and a backdoor for corruption. (...)
Sabrine cleans homes for a living. She commutes daily to an upscale district of Giza from her rural neighbourhood on the outskirts of town. Her husband has just lost his job as a driver. Now Sabrine has to support him and her three children.
“I feel (...)
With tourism revenues and foreign direct investment reduced due to post-revolutionary turmoil in Egypt and political bickering, news that the country's exports had recorded a double digit hike during the first half of 2013 was much welcomed by (...)
When the military ousted former president Mohammed Morsi on 3 July, it also suspended the 2012 constitution and dissolved the Shura Council, which held full legislative powers, in response to the nationwide protests staged on 30 June.
As a result (...)
Palestinians, especially members of Hamas, the Islamist group now in charge of Gaza, have long been accused of meddling in Egyptian affairs. Such accusations took on a bitter note following the killings of Egyptian soldiers in Rafah nearly a year (...)
“I don't want the electricity to run the air-conditioning. Water doesn't reach my apartment unless the pump is on, so if there is a power cut I have to fill a lot of pots with water and keep them around the house just in case, which introduces a (...)
Since the overthrow of the regime led by ousted former president Hosni Mubarak in the 25 January Revolution two years ago, many stories, or urban legends, have circulated about the corruption of the former regime and funds smuggled out of the (...)