Visa executive says credit bureau crucial component of promoting alternatives to cash
CAIRO: Every so often one bank announces that its number of credit cards has reached a record high while another bank launches a new line of specialist (...)
Move may be precursor to privatization
CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak issued a decree yesterday to form a holding company for insurance, bringing the four main public insurance firms as well as the country s only reinsurance company under the (...)
Egypt s future in light of the WTO stalemate
CAIRO: The Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) kicked off in Qatar five years ago in hopes of bridging the gap between industrialized nations and emerging economies.
Having already (...)
Executive says exports necessary to attract investment and exploration
CAIRO: Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) Chairman Sherif Ismail announced that the price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) sold to Spain was, on average, five times the (...)
CAIRO: After nearly two weeks of Israel s massive offensive against Lebanon, the Egyptian stock market recovered all the losses it made in the initial days of the crisis.
The CASE-30 index, which tracks the top 30 stocks on the exchange, fell by (...)
CAIRO: Aside from situations of distress, auctioning real estate is a relatively new concept in Egypt.
Traditionally, auctions are associated with negative circumstances, such as bankruptcy and seizure. But these views are being challenged with a (...)
Ground attack increasingly likely
CAIRO: In an attempt to diffuse the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana made a blitz visit to the region this week, where he met with Palestinian President (...)
CAIRO: In the latest chapter of the saga of Omar Effendi, Egyptian businessman Mohamed Said El-Hanash has offered LE 2 billion for the nation s largest department store.
The offer from El-Hanash emerges nearly one week after the Ministry of (...)
CAIRO: The recently-established Egyptian Competition Authority will begin investigating whether cement and steel producers have violated anti-trust laws.
The authority announced its intention to launch an investigation this week in response to a (...)
CAIRO: As the Israeli strikes on Lebanon decimate nearly half a billion dollars worth of infrastructure and the Tel Aviv stock market plummets, the Egyptian economy and foreign direct investment in particular may be vulnerable to the regional (...)
North Sinai declares state of emergency
AL-ARISH: In the hours following the explosion at the Egyptian border with Gaza, scores of Palestinians who were stranded on the Egyptian side of the border rushed into Gaza.
Meanwhile, North Sinai (...)
CAIRO: Over a century ago, Egypt s ruler Mohammed Ali took advantage of the halt of the American cotton trade owing to the civil war in that country and compelled Egyptian farmers to cultivate cotton almost exclusively.
The cotton that was grown (...)
CAIRO: Egypt has achieved a remarkable turnaround in its monetary situation. Until a few years ago, the state of the pound, controlled and overvalued by the government, made imports difficult due to the unavailability of foreign currency and exports (...)
Managed funds and increased institutional investment are keys to stability
CAIRO: Everything looks different in hindsight. Not long ago spectators marveled at the miracle of the Egyptian stock market. During a two year rally, encouraged by the (...)
Additional funding of $37.1 million to be provided by World Bank
CAIRO: In an attempt to address the shortage of long-term funds in the housing market, the central bank and 24 private and public financial institutions jointly established a new (...)
CAIRO: A committee appointed by Minister of Transportation Mohamed Mansour to investigate the cause of the Al Salam Boccaccio 98 ferry disaster concluded its report yesterday, having found that a series of mistakes by the crew of the vessel, (...)
CAIRO: The Egyptian Export Promotion Center held its first board meeting on Monday, during which producers and government officials discussed sector-specific export objectives and results for the past year as well as factors inhibiting (...)
CAIRO: The American University in Cairo (AUC) will establish a finance lab that will be connected directly to the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange (CASE)
The facility, which will include a simulated trading room, is being funded by a donation (...)
CAIRO: Having established its printing services with a number of large clients, Xerox plans to expand its range of document solutions in Egypt.
Xerox currently serves several local companies that have a sizeable customer base and a need to (...)
EU Ambassador says the ball is in the Egyptian court
CAIRO: The European Union and Egypt have failed to reach agreement on the final text of an action plan for the union s Neighborhood Policy during Tuesday s meeting between Minister of Foreign (...)
CAIRO: Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabali said yesterday that although the avian flu virus has been nearly eliminated in farms, the disease is likely to remain in Egypt for years because of birds raised in households.
Bird flu in Egypt now is (...)
CAIRO: Cairo Poultry Company is behaving strangely for a business in the midst of one of its industry s worst crises. As chicken retailers and even some producers have struggled to survive since the outbreak of avian flu in February, Cairo Poultry (...)
Standoff threatens new Egyptian LNG project
CAIRO: Israeli authorities have held up the development of an offshore natural gas field in Palestinian territory by not responding to a routine request for a survey from the field s operator, British (...)
CAIRO: One striking aspect of the Cairo ICT conference earlier this year was the multitude of government departments present as exhibitors. A range of e-government projects, such as smart cards for subsidies and portals for various government (...)
CAIRO: Analysts, journalists, technology and communications professionals from around the world gathered in Cairo yesterday for the first of three days of the Offshore Customer Management International Conference.
The conference highlights key (...)