Category: North Africa

The International Monetary Fund released the details of the $12 billion loan it approved for Egypt in November, the Washington-based lender’s largest in the region. Egyptian officials have said the loan adds credibility to its program to overhaul the economy, which has already included subsidy reductions, a currency float and higher interest rates. The government is…

Kenya Railways Corporation (KR) has come to the defence of the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway following concerns over the cost compared to other railway projects in the continent. The Corporation Managing Director Atanus Maina says the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is built based on the needs of the country which is to primarily…

Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Tarek al-Molla signed two agreements for oil and gas exploration in the Western Desert and the Suez Canal regions on Tuesday. Egypt aspires to increase its oil and gas production to meet the growing domestic demand for energy. According to the ministry’s statement, the first deal was signed with the Egyptian General…

Health minister Ahmed Emad said the cabinet approved decision to raise prices for 3,000 medicines; as of Thursday. This is the second wave of increasing medicines prices in less than one year. In May 2016, the cabinet decided to raise the medicines prices, less than EGP 30, up to 20%. The increase will reach up…

Egyptian business tycoon Naguib Sawiris was Egypt’s biggest billionaire gainer in 2016, according to a report issued by Forbes. The net worth of Naguib’s fortune increased $700 million to reach $3.7 billion. He became Africa’s seventh-richest person after he occupied the 10th position in the previous year. In December 2016, Naguib announced that he would…

“The year 2017 will be that of subcontracting,” Industry and Mines Minister Abdeslam Bouchouareb said Thursday in Setif. The minister also recalled the numerous incentives included in 2017 Finance Act to investors in the subcontracting sector. Paying an inspection visit to a tire production unit under construction in Setif industrial zone, the minister stressed that…

Minister of Industry and Mining Abdesslam Bouchouareb has inaugurated, Thursday in Setif, the second production unit of the cement plant of Ain El Kebira (SCAEK), coming under the Algerian public industrial cement group (GICA). According to the explanations given to the minister, this unit, which has a production capacity of 2 million tonnes per year,…

Egyptian pound remained steady at around 18 per dollar in most banks on Sunday. The dollar was sold at the Al Ahli Bank, Banque du Caire and the Central Bank of Egypt at EGP 18.11, while it was bought at EGP 17.86 in all three banks. The rates at Banque Misr stood at EGP 18.1…

Egypt’s foreign debt jumped 185% from July to September 2016, according to the monthly report of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on Thursday. The debt amount increased to USD 2.46 bn during the past fiscal year, from USD 863 bn in the previous fiscal year. The three months of July to September witnessed an…