Browsing: Egypt

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided Egypt and the other four countries with $200 million in loans to strengthen agribusinesses.

According to a statement from Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation, the funding also aims at helping local farmers adopt climate-smart agriculture practices as well as strengthening farmers’ agribusinesses and improving their financial wellbeing through financing purchases of various agricultural commodities such as hazelnuts, dry dairy products, grain and onions in the selected countries of operation.

Also Read: East African Agribusiness SMEs to receive $1m

“As one of the only five economies across the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region to receive the loan, the EBRD will help transform Egypt’s agriculture value chain into “smart farming” through new methodologies that include climate-related risk management and stress testing” the Ministry noted in a statement.

This comes at a time when COVID-19 has multiplied the threats to …

The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Canada currently totals $1.7 billion, according to Hala El-Said, Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development.

She added that the figure is expected to continue increasing due to the mutual interdependence and cooperation between Egypt and Canada and the strength of the Egyptian economy.

She also noted that there’s an excellent relation between the two countries and increased cooperation is needed in various fields, such as artificial intelligence( AI) information exchange.

El-Said added that Canada’s private sector plays a pivotal role in the country, noting that a Canadian company has been awarded the electric monorail project contract in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital (NAC).

El-Said remarks came during her participation in a recent discussion held by the Canada-Arab Business Council via video conference, which discussed the economic and investment relations between the two countries.

Among those present for the virtual discussion were …

Egypt’s imports of non-durable consumer goods declined by 19.7 per cent during the first five months of 2020, to record $5.056 billion compare to the $6.299 billion in the same period of 2019, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

CAPMAS added that in May 2020, imports of non-durable goods in Egypt decreased by 26 per cent to $820.574 million down from $1.514 billion in May last year.

CAPMAS also said that medicines and pharmaceuticals imports decreased by 12.7 per cent during the same period, recording a total of $924.965 million compared to $1.059 billion during the same period in 2019.

Sugar imports declined by 76.6 per cent to $15.489 million during the first five months of 2020, compared to $66.161 million during the same period last year.

Soap and cleaning products dropped by 31.2 per cent, registering $64 million in the first five months of …

Egypt’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 9.6 per cent during the second quarter (Q2) of 2020 according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) report.

The latest figures from the report show a  slight increase of 1.9 per cent compared to the 7.7 per cent reported in Q1 of 2020 and an increase of 2.1 per cent from Q2 of 2019.

According to CAPMAS, the number of unemployed reached 2,574 million, which is 9.6 per cent of the total workforce, of which 1,934 million were male and 640,000 were female. his compared to the 2,236 million unemployed in Q1 of 2020, reflecting a 15.1 per cent increase to 338,000.

According to CAPMAS, the rise in Egypt’s unemployment rate is due to the repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic.

As a precautionary measure, the government of Egypt put in measures that saw the international air traffic suspended, closure of schools, …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Egypt’s tourism revenues losses to exceed 2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 due to COVID-19 crisis.

A report by the IMF titled “EXTERNAL SECTOR REPORT: Global Imbalances and the COVID-19 Crisis” noted that a recent study (UN World Tourism Organization 2020) included a scenario involving a gradual lifting of travel restrictions starting in September. The scenario implies tourism receipts 73 per cent below their 2019 levels, with a direct impact on tourism trade balances ranging from –6 per cent of GDP to 2 per cent of GDP.

“During the first four months of 2020 international tourism arrivals were about 50 per cent lower than over the same period in 2019, with deeper declines for related indicators, such as international flight arrivals and hotel reservations,” IMF stated.

It also noted that the projected direct impact on tourism trade balances in 2020 …

The Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam is inching closer to completion, rekindling the environmental and political controversies that have dogged the project from the start nearly 10 years ago. In addition, recent satellite images show a steady increase in the amount of water being held back by the new mega dam. Mahemud Tekuya explains what’s at stake.

The current dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is directly linked to colonial-era Nile treaties. During the scramble for Africa, controlling the source of the Nile was a major colonial goal for the British. In 1902, the UK and Ethiopia concluded the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty in which Ethiopia agreed not to arrest or totally block the flow of the Nile.

Then there was the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty signed in 1929. This was between the British (on behalf of its colonies, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) and Egypt. The treaty prevented British East African colonies …

I can vividly remember sitting in a Nairobi classroom in Kenya and scribbling away my discussion to validate that assertion. I also clearly remember answering the same question in Ordinary Level Secondary school in Jinja, Uganda and when I returned to my country of birth, Tanzania, I again had to respond to the same question in Advanced Level High School.

My explanation was simple, Egypt is a dessert country and its main source of fresh water is the Nile. Without the Nile, they would be no Egypt…

It was the correct answer; the answer that my teacher liked and am sure so does Egypt. What of the countries of East Africa, the source of the Nile. Well, the teaching goes, they too need the Nile, but since they are tropic countries that receive considerable amount of annual rains, they don’t need the Nile as much as Egypt does.

That is …

Kenya is the major exporter and importer of the East African Community (EAC) accounting for an estimated 46 per cent of exports and 41 per cent of imports in the region…

Egypt sees a 3.2 per cent increase in its total exports to the world trade organisations member countries in 2019.

The export increased to $29.8  billion in 2019 compared to the $28.9 billion recorded in 2018. The statistics came in the Annual Bulletin of Intraregional Trade Groups 2019 by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

CAPMAS report covers intraregional trade organisations in which Egypt is a member state. These include the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, COMESA, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the Arab Free Trade Area, the Group of 15 and the Developing Eight Islamic Countries Group (D-8).

According to the report, in 2019, Egypt recorded the largest amount of export to the Arab Free Trade Area with $10.1billion compared to $9.5 billion in 2018, an increase of 5.9 per cent. It was followed by Egypt’s export to United Nations Economic …

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is launching a new advisory program to improve women’s employment opportunities in Egypt.

IFC which is a member of the World Bank Group aims at highlighting how Egypt’s private sector companies can invest in the county’s large, underutilized female talent and spur economic growth.

In a statement by the corporation, IFC said the program will run for three years and will help create family-friendly, flexible workplaces to make Egyptian businesses more resilient, agile and inclusive, especially in times of crises.

In 2019, only 24 per cent of working-age women participated in Egypt’s labour market in 2019, compared to 75 per cent of men. If women and men participated equally, the country’s GDP could rise by 34 per cent.

“The participation of women is macro-critical, it is no longer lip service, all stakeholders from the public and private sector as well as IFIs are coming together …