Business monthly March 00   LETTER FROM THE EDITOR FEATURE EXECUTIVE LIFE VIEWPOINT REPORTS SUBSCRIPTION FORM ROUND UP FOLLOW UP ADVERTISING RATES YOUR ASSETS Search Business Monthly | Back Issues

ROUND UP: The month at a glance

RESERVE DRAIN CONTINUES

Egypt's net international reserves fell $382 million in November to $16.18 billion, their lowest level in at least three years, the Central Bank of Egypt reported. The monthly decline, the 15th in a row, came as the Central Bank continued to spend its reserves to meet demand for dollars, which have been in short supply in Egypt for more than a year. November's reserves were enough to cover 11.4 months' worth of imports. Egypt's net international reserves stood at $20.00 billion in November 1998.

TOURISM STILL BOOMING

Tourism numbers continued strong with 459,000 tourists arriving in Egypt in November, up from 323,000 in November 1998, the Central Bank reported. Egypt's tourist arrivals remain ahead of the record pace set in 1997 before the industry was flattened by the November 1997 slaying of 58 tourists in Luxor. According to the Central Bank, 4.44 million tourists arrived in Egypt in the first 11 months of calendar year 1999, up from 3.78 million in the first 11 months of 1997. Tourists stayed a total of 3.3 million nights in November, up from 2.0 million nights in November 1998. Tourism is Egypt's second-largest source of foreign currency. Revenues from travel, a broad measure of tourism, climbed to $1.18 billion in the first quarter of the fiscal year ending June 30 - up from $825 million in the same period the year before, the Central Bank reported.

TELECOM EGYPT TO GO MOBILE

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ahmed Nazif announced that the government will award a cellular-telephone operator's license to the state-owned, fixed-line monopoly Telecom Egypt once the government's exclusivity agreements with Egypt's current license holders expire in December 2002. The announcement prompted concern from Egypt's current GSM license holders, since Telecom Egypt also controls their access to the country's fixed-line and long-distance networks. Nazif also stated that the long-awaited sale of a minority stake in Telecom Egypt on the stock ex-change would take place before July. The precise date of the sale and size of the stake to be sold hadn't been decided yet, Nazif said, but market observers expect about a 10% stake to be offered.

INTERNET CALLING BLOCKED

The government banned use of the Net2Phone internet calling service, and announced plans to launch its own internet-based phone service by early March. Net2Phone, which allows users to make inexpensive international calls through their computer, was banned to prevent erosion of Telecom Egypt's long-distance profits, officials said. No word yet on whether Net2Phone would be allowed back into the country once the government had its competing service running.

EARNINGS BOOST FOR OCI

Orascom Construction Industries reported net 1999 income of £E 190.5 million on revenue of £E 1.5 billion. Annual figures for previous years aren't available, since OCI was only established as an independent corporation in April 1998. But OCI officials said the 1999 figures are a comparative improvement over the April-December 1998 figures of £E 79.2 million in net income on £E 838.9 million in revenue.

MAJOR NEW GAS FINDS

A pair of announcements promised to greatly boost Egypt's estimated natural gas reserves. Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy announced that two finds in the Western Desert could total 260 billion cubic feet. A week earlier, the US-based Apache company announced two major gas field discoveries in its West Mediterranean and East Bahriyya concessions. It was also reported that negotiations would soon begin for Egypt to supply the Israel Electrical Corp. with natural gas. Israeli officials had announced in December that Egypt had agreed to begin selling it natural gas, but the agreement has yet to be officially confirmed by the Egyptian government. Turkey also announced in early February that it had agreed to import four billion cubic meters per year of Egyptian gas starting in 2004.

Submit your comment

Top