Subsidies in perspective

Al Ahram Weekly 28 October-3 November,2010--In its bid to reform the subsidies regime, Egypt needs the right tools and a clear vision. Subsidy reform is now making headlines. In two weeks' time, a plan will be presented to the prime minister for approval. Meanwhile, new major guidelines for providing subsidised butane cooking cylinders have been laid out and will come into effect next January.

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Let the pound slide

Al Ahram Weekly 28 October-3 November,2010--The pound is inching downwards in value. Two weeks ago, one of the country's dailies erroneously published that the Egyptian pound was trading at LE5.8 to the United States dollar, and what started off as a mistake turned out to be a premonition. Fifteen days later, the dollar is on its way to that LE5.8 benchmark. After having traded for months in the range of LE5.68 to LE5.7, it suddenly jumped by around LE0.05 to LE5.75. It even hit LE5.77 on Thursday, its weakest point in over three years.

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Malaysians eye more palm oil exports here

The Egyptian Gazette 18 October,2010--Malaysian Minister of Industries and Commodities Bernard Dompok is due to visit Egypt next month for talks with his Egyptian counterpart Minister Rashid Mohamed Rashid on business opportunities in the field of palm oil and its expansion in Egypt. The Malaysian official will open a conference to be held in Cairo on the sidelines of the Malaysian – Egypt Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar (POTS) 2010, which is organized by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) on November 8. The conference will focus on global and regional perspectives of oils, technical trends and new demands, price outlook and market direction in a three-day session, say organisers. Dato’s Lee Yeow Chor, the chairman of MPOC, will also participate in the Cairo event.

DP World to double Sokhna Port

The Egyptian Gazette 16 October,2010--DP World has won a concession to double the size of its container operations at Sokhna Port on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, the company has said. Sokhna, near the southern end of the Suez Canal, is Cairo’s main port for cargo from the Far East. The concession will allow DP World to extend the length of its quay by 1,300 metres and add 1.75 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo capacity to its operations, DP World said. The new capacity is expected to come online in four years.

Egypt plans $ 9.3b facilities

The Egyptian Gazette 16 October,2010--Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry Rashid Mohamed Rashid said yesterday industrial growth was steady as it grew by 6.2 percent in the first quarter of the fiscal year (FY) 2010/11. Rashid said the Government has allocated 27.3 million square metres to set up manufacturing facilities worth LE52.9 billion ($9.3 billion), creating 183,700 jobs. He added that LE1.6 billion were pumped into developing 36 industrial zones in 25 governorates over the past three years.

Egypt to grow by 5% - IMF

The Egyptian Gazette 8 October,2010--Egypt will maintain robust growth at five percent this year and 5.2 percent next year after posting 4.6 percent last year. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has largely been bypassed by the recent surge in capital flows to emerging markets, with the notable exception of Egypt and Lebanon. A rebound in oil prices has triggered a strong recovery this year in the economies of the MENA region. GDP growth for MENA is expected to reach 4.1 percent in 2010, compared to two percent in 2009. It projected an economic expansion of 5.1 percent in 2011. Oil prices currently hover around $80 per barrel after plummeting to around $30 early 2009 after a record high of over 140 dollars in the summer of 2008. These economies also benefited from a “sizeable and rapid fiscal policy response, especially in oil-exporting economies,” which had spillover effects on the region’s non-oil exporters “due to close trade links between these groups of economies.” MENA comprises oil exporters Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, and oil importers Egypt, Djibouti, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia.
Oil exporters are expected to see a 3.8 percent growth in 2010 and five percent in 2011. Oil importers, which grew by 4.6 percent in 2009, will expand by five percent and 5.2 percent in 2010 and 2011, respectively. The IMF warned, however, that MENA economies remain vulnerable to any drop in oil prices, and possible heightened economic turbulence in Europe, which is a major trade destination for non-oil exporters.