EGYPT'S TAX REVENUES UP TO $ 1.9 BILLION Source: Zawya, Dow Jones, April 24, 2008
Egypt's tax revenues rose to 10.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.9 billion) in the 2007-2008 financial year from EGP7.6 billion the previous year, said the minister of finance. The figure is a significant increase from the EGP1.4 billion tax revenues recorded before reforms to the system were implemented in 2005, Youssef-Boutros Ghali said. Egypt is expected to grow at a rate of 7% in the year 2007-2008. The country attracted $11.1 billion worth of foreign direct investment last year, representing 8.5% of its gross domestic product.
TCC TO DELIVER ENCRYPTION TECH TO EGYPT Source: United Press International, April 21, 2008
Technical Communications Corp. (TCC) (link here), based in Massachusetts, has been contracted to supply encryption equipment to the Egyptian government. The $5.75 million contract award from the U.S. Army is for TCC to deliver encryption technologies to the government of Egypt. Technical Communications, a secure communications provider for government agencies and militaries among others, will be expected to deliver the equipment over an 18-month period. TCC is a designer and manufacturer of secure communications technologies capable of protecting sensitive information with encryption transmitted over a wide range of data, voice and fax networks.
EDISON BIDS FOR 100 PERCENT OF EGYPT ABU QUIR FIELD Source: Interactive Investor, Reuters, April 20, 2008
Italy's second-biggest power group Edison (link here) is bidding for 100 percent in Egypt's Abu Quir gas field as it aims to boost its own oil and gas supplies, said Edison Chief Executive Umberto Quadrino. Egyptian Oil Minister Sameh Fahmy said Edison and Britain's BG (AmCham member) (link here) were the main competitors in bidding for Abu Quir which reserves amount between one trillion cubic feet (tcf) and 2.5 tcf, according to various estimates. Under Egyptian law, the tender winner will set up an operating company in which the government will have a 50 percent stake, Edison executives said.
GAS AND CONDENSATE DISCOVERY FOR RWE DEA IN EGYPT Source: Budapest Business Journal, April 25, 2008
RWE Dea (link here) has discovered gas and condensate in the Disouq Concession – Onshore Nile Delta. The North Sidi Ghazi-1x well encountered a gas bearing sandstone interval of 42 m column within the Upper Messinian reservoir sands. Formation evaluation confirmed the encountered section to be Gas bearing with average porosity of 20%. RWE Dea commenced testing operation on the North Sidi Ghazi-1x well. The concession was awarded to RWE Dea on July 2004 with a 100% interest.
The Disouq Block covers originally an onshore area of 5,523 square kilometers within the densely populated farmland of the Nile Delta region of Egypt. 3,500 square kilometers of 3-D seismic have been acquired and evaluated since 2006.
Immediate plans are to complete testing and perform a detailed evaluation. A second exploration well (South Sidi Ghazi - 1x) will be drilled to test another potential Messinian structure.
AMINEX SPUDS NW TANAN-1 WELL IN EGYPT Source: RIGZONE, April 29, 2008
Aminex PLC (link here) announces the spudding of the second exploration well in its drilling programme on the West Esh El Mellaha ('WEEM-2') concession in the onshore Gulf of Suez region, Egypt. The well is located on the NW Tanan prospect and will be drilled to a proposed total depth of 2,620 metres (8,600 feet). This prospect is on trend with the Tanan-1 oil well, 3.1 kilometres to the south east in the adjacent Lukoil-owned block operated by Eshpetco.The well is being drilled on a seismically-defined tilted fault block. The objective horizons include the Nukhul, Matulla and Nubian sands.
Aminex has a 10% beneficial interest in the WEEM-2 block, free carried by other partners through to first commercial production. The well is operated by an associated company, Aminex Petroleum Egypt Ltd. and is expected to reach total depth in 25 days
IDBE MERGES WITH EWB BY MID MAY Source: ArabFinance, April 16 and April 23, 2008
Industrial Development Bank of Egypt (IDBE) (link here) is finally going to merge with the Egyptian Workers Bank (EWB) by mid may. The Egyptian Government led a process of negotiations to overcome the obstacles facing the merger. These obstacles have been the reason behind the delaying of the merger for more than once since the beginning of 2008.
The EGM of the Egyptian Workers Bank (EWB) has approved merging the bank with the Industrial Development Bank of Egypt (IDBE); the two banks will become one entity named the Industrial Development and workers Bank.
HSBC FUND INVESTS IN EGYPT PORT Source: Trade Arabia, April 18, 2008
HSBC Holdings said a $500 million Middle East infrastructure fund it manages made its first investment two years after its creation, buying into a port operator in Egypt to tap growing trade. The fund, which HSBC, Dubai International Capital and Abu Dhabi-based Waha Capital set up in March 2006 with $50 million each, bought a minority stake in Alexandria International Container Terminals to tap into annual cargo growth in Egypt of about 12 percent.
EGYPT'S GASC BUYS 205,000 TONNES OF WHEAT Source: Reuters, April 22, 2008
Egypt's main government wheat buyer had bought 205,000 tonnes of Russian and U.S. wheat. Said el-Hefny, vice chairman of the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), gave the following breakdown of the purchases, with prices in landed cost:
-120,000 tonnes US soft red winter wheat from Horus at 2,050 Egyptian pounds per tonne, landed cost
-25,000 tonnes Russian wheat from Al-Wihda at 2,050 Egyptian pounds per tonne
-60,000 tonnes Russian wheat from Horus at 2,050 Egyptian pounds per tonne
AL-FUTTAIM LAUNCHES $3.6BN EGYPT PROJECT Source: Arabian Business, April 21, 2008
Dubai's Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate (link here) launched a 20 billion Egyptian-pound ($3.6 billion) Egypt mega-project modelled on Dubai Festival City. The privately funded mixed-use development, Cairo Festival City, is located near the Egyptian capital's international airport over an area of three million square metres.
The self-contained city will offer retail, hotels, luxury residential villas and apartments, offices and schools. It will include a 140,000 square-metre three-level shopping centre housing 250 international and regional retail brands called Festival Centre. The city’s shopping centre and phase one of the residential units are expected to be ready for handover by the end of 2010, with the development set for completion in 2011. Al-Futtaim also expected the project would create
around 1,500 jobs by the end of this year.
DENMARK'S FLSMIDTH WINS ANOTHER ORDER IN EGYPT Source: Reuters, April 17, 2008
Danish Engineering Group FLSmidth (link here) won a contract worth 410 million Danish crowns ($87.70 million) in Egypt. The contract, the second it has won in Egypt in a month, is to build a 5,000 tonne-per-day cement plant for Wadi El Nile Cement Company near the city of Beni Seuf. FLSmidth has won a maintenance contract in Mexico worth 215 million Danish crowns ($45.62 million).
SAUDI SAVOLA PLANS SECOND EGYPT SUGAR REFINERY Source: Reuters, April 21, 2008
Savola Group (link here), Saudi Arabia's largest food product company by market value, said it plans to build a second sugar refinery in Egypt to meet rising demand in the most populous Arab nation and the Middle East. Both plants will increasingly rely on locally produced beetroot to make the sugar, rather than more expensive imports of raw sugar, Savola Chief Executive Officer Sami Baroum said. The existing 750,000 tonnes per year Egyptian refinery, a joint venture with firms including Tate & Lyle (link here) will supply Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries.
TURKISH BUS MAKER OPENS FIRST OVERSEAS PLANT IN EGYPT Source: Turkish Press, April 20, 2008
Turkish bus maker Temsa (link here) opened its first overseas factory in Egypt. The plant, set up as a joint venture with Egypt's Lasheen Group (link here), has a capacity to manufacture 500 buses and 500 midibuses a year and it cost about 20 million Euro. Temsa plans to sell its buses mainly in Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Saudi Arabia.
EGYPT EYES $12 BLN IN TOURISM EARNINGS BY 2011 Source: AFP, April 26, 2008
Egypt hopes to boost its tourism earnings by 26 percent to 12 billion dollars by 2011. According to a plan launched by Tourism Minister Zuheir Garana, Egypt hopes to welcome some 14 million tourists in 2011, The minister said Egypt wants to attract private investors to fund the ambitious plan which also includes developing eco-tourism and medical tourism, limiting the government's role to supervision and planning, requiring a capacity of 240,000 hotel rooms, compared with 11 million in 2007.
REPUBLICAN DECREE ESTABLISHING TWO GOVERNORATES Source: IDSC, 19 April 2008
H.E. President Hosni Mubarak issued a Republican Decree No. 115 for 2008 on 17th of April 2008 establishing two more governorates in Helwan and the 6th of October City, and re drawing the administrative borders of some governorates, and appointing new governors in some Egyptian governorates.
EGYPTIAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSS THE ECONOMIC COURTS LAW Source: Ministry of Investment, April 23, 2008
The economic courts law is a vital addition to the legislation governing the economic activity in general and the investment activity in particular, stated the Minister of Investment, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin.
The law conveys a message to investors that their investment, economic and commercial disputes will be settled by specialized courts and qualified judges, after sluggish decision of disputes in the past.
The Minister of Investment added that the new law will improve the business environment since the quality of litigation procedures in the investment and economic cases is a major criteria for measuring the effectiveness of the investment climate and the business environment as well as the economy's capability of attracting investments in a world with severe competition.
The law serves citizens who have economic laws-related interests as well as all projects, companies and investments, whether existing or potential. Small and medium-sized enterprises will benefit more from the new law than larger companies, Dr. Mohieldin said. The economic courts law will achieve rapid settlement of economic disputes and protect individuals and institutions' rights, he added.
NEW AMENDMENTS TO INSURANCE LAW Source: Ministry of Investment, April 24, 2008
The amendments of the insurance supervision and control law come in response to the new facts and changes in the insurance market, the Minister of Investment, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin told the People's Assembly.
The amendments proposed strengthen the role of the Egyptian Insurance Supervisory Authority (EISA), support entities and companies operating in the market and provide the legal framework of the insurance banking marketing.
Dr. Mohieldin said that the law was lastly amended by law 156/1998. Since then, the market witnessed new situations and changes that necessitate the amendment of the law.
These changes include the transformation of the control technique to be based on risk management and transferring public insurance companies into the portfolio of public business sector law, as affiliates to the Insurance Holding Company. Some companies were merged while the insurance market insurance structure changed with regards to companies and professions in the market.
The new amendments enhance the role of the insurance federation, organizes the banks' involvement in marketing the insurance products and reorganizes the insurance brokerage profession. It increases companies' minimum capital requirements from LE 30 million to LE 60 million.
Compiled by: Business Studies & Analysis Center E-mail: Studies@amcham.org.eg If you want to receive this bulletin on a regular basis, fill out this form
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