Business News Wrap-up

Upper Egypt takes lion’s share of industrial projects

Upper Egypt took the lion’s share of the industrial development in various fields under the current administration after years of neglect, Deputy Head of the Federation of Egyptian Industries’ Building Materials Chamber Kamal el-Desouki said in a statement Tuesday.

Desouki said that Upper Egypt acquired 37 percent of the new industrial projects. He said industrial zones and small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been established there.

Ending poverty on top of Egypt's priorities: Wali

Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali said on Tuesday that ending poverty comes on top of Egypt's strategy for sustainable development.

EGX ends on mixed note and market capitalization wins LE 4.9B

The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) indexes ended mid-week session on mixed note and market capitalization gained LE 4.9 billion.

The benchmark EGX30 ended Tuesday in Red by losing 53.47 points, or 0.35 percent, to end at 15,315.66 points.

$3B agreement with ITFC for basic goods provision

Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr signed on Tuesday a $3 billion agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to support the provision of basic goods in Egypt, a statement from the ministry said.

Flotation had positive results on Egypt’s economy: CI Capital

The decision to float the Egyptian pound in November 2016 had a clear impact in increasing the gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign reserves growth rates, and helped the government treasury-bills attract $19 billion in cash flows, Managing Director and Head of Brokerage at CI Capital Karim Khedr said during CI Capital’s second MENA Investor Conference, which kicked off in Cairo Tuesday.

Egypt's economic growth rate expected to reach 5% in 2018 - IMF official

Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Jihad Azour expected the economic growth rate in Egypt to exceed projections hitting about 5 percent in 2018.

Egypt Gas to execute natural gas network in New Capital

Egypt Gas company announced on Tuesday that it signed a contract to execute the natural gas network for the first phase of the new administrative capital in cooperation with the Administrative Capital for Urban Development company (ACUD) with a total cost of LE 771 million.

Egypt sees budget deficit at 9.4 pct/GDP in 2017/18

Egypt’s budget deficit for the 2017-2018 fiscal year is expected to reach 9.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), up from previous projections of about nine percent, the deputy finance minister told Reuters on Tuesday.

Egypt sees growth for FY 2018-19 at 5.8%: Minister

Egypt is targeting economic growth of 5.8 percent in the financial year that will begin in July, Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed said on Monday.

That target is just below one provided earlier this month, when she put expected growth for the 2018-19 financial year at 6 percent.