First Independent Mena Newspaper
During the inauguration ceremony of the National Initiative for Economic Launch, the Egyptian Prime minister said that there are expectations that some prospective investments can “help reduce the budget deficit” before the end of the year because these investments can go up to LE20 billion. These remarks came after saying that the transfer of funds […]
The government has sold 15% of its stake in mobile operator Tunisiana to the Qatar based Qtel group. The conclusion of the deal raises the stake owned by Qtel group in Tunisiana to 90% if stakes acquired directly and through subsidiaries are taken into consideration. However, the Tunisian government still holds on the remaining 10% […]
Interview with Dr. Norafidah Ismail, conducted by Jakub Janda, Czech political analyst and project coordinator of the European Values think-tank Mrs. Ismail, you have earned your master degree and Ph.D. in the United Kingdom. Could you compare how it has influenced your views on Middle Eastern issues? Are your views somehow different from those of […]
Four Maghreban women were listed among ten emerging women leaders in science, technology, engineering and math in the Middle East and North Africa region in 2012. These ten Middle Eastern and North African women were part of a 41 member group that participated in the TechWomen program launched by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton […]
United Arab Emirates security services have said they disrupted lately an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood network that “recruited Egyptian expatriates in the UAE” and “received instruction on means of changing leadership in Arab countries”. According to Al-Khaleej newspaper, the group, made of a dozen people including three doctors, held “secret meetings” across the oil-rich country, set […]
Egypt has decided to call off its first debt sale after a rating cut at Standard & Poor’s raised borrowing costs and as Fitch Ratings warned against delaying an International Monetary Fund loan beyond January. The local currency is continuing on its journey of unprecedented deprecation. The sale which was supposed to take place was […]
Tunisia will be introducing its financial transactions to Sukuk for the first time next year alongside Egypt according to CIMB Group Holdings and OCBC Al-Amin Bank with the global sukuk sales tipped to surpass 2012 record of $46 billion in 2013. Sukuk has been attracting countries after the global economic crises took centre stage. Countries […]
The government is preparing to sell almost 60% of its bond in the next quarter. The decision is a U-turn on its strategy to cut long-term debt sales by 49% in expectations of the delayed IMF loan. The Finance Ministry will seek to sell 26billion pounds ($4.2 billion) in bonds maturing in 3years to 10years, […]
With rumors surrounding the market claiming that some Egyptians have withdrawn their funds from banks out of concern they would be frozen by the authorities, Egypt’s central bank has taken steps to safeguard deposits in local and foreign currencies in Egyptian banks in response to the rumors. In a press release to address the situation, […]
World rating agency Standard & Poors has downgraded its long-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings of Egypt to ‘B-‘ from ‘B’. It has also switched its outlook is negative, citing recent political developments that weakened Egypt’s institutions and the increasingly polarized political discourse that could undermine the effectiveness of policy-making. According to S&P, a […]