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| ROUND UP: The month at a glance |
AIRLINE AFTERSHOCKS:
At the beginning of October, EgyptAir passenger numbers were reported
to have fallen some 40 percent since the September 11 attacks in
the United States. In response, the national carrier has cut some
scheduled flights and operations by 15 percent. Since the attacks,
insurance companies have asked EgyptAir to pay 10 times more in
premiums (see story, page 16).
JUICING UP REVENUE:
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced September 21 a 100 basis
point reduction of the 15-percent reserve requirement. This action
is expected to pump some £E 2 billion of liquidity into the
market. At the same time, the CBE suggested the possibility of issuing
treasury bills with a 15-day maturity.
HOLDING GROUND:
At the end of September, Merrill Lynch announced that Egypt’s
rank in their emerging-market debt portfolio has remained unmoved.
With high yields on Egyptian market debt amounting to some 700 basis
points over US treasuries, Egypt has been able to maintain its weight
at current levels.
COMPETITIVE COOPERATION:
MobiNil and Click-Vodafone signed an agreement that enables subscribers
to the competing networks to send Short Message Services (SMS) to
each other. To be initiated at an undisclosed date in October, company
officials said system test runs are taking place throughout September.
SPANISH GAS DEALS:
On September 24, Spain’s third-largest power company announced
that it was talking to other firms interested in its liquefied natural
gas plant in Egypt. A deputy manager with Union Fenosa said the
company was also looking at two engineering procurement offers for
its Damietta LNG plant.
PHONE BILLS ONLINE:
Telecom Egypt (TE) announced two new services at the end of September.
Chairman Okail Bashir said telephone bills will be delivered to
subscribers’ homes free of charge and that bills can be paid
through the company’s website: www.telecomegypt.com.eg, as
well as at local service centers.
WIRELESS BIDDING:
On September 23, according to Etesalat El Youm, a source involved
in Telecom Egypt’s £E 1.5 billion wireless-network contract
said IT Investments had been eliminated from the bid, leaving only
Orascom Telecom and the M.A. Kharafi Group’s Raneen. The source
said that bidding had begun on September 23, adding that the project
might be co-implemented by both companies.
A CAPITAL DECREE:
In an effort to prevent money laundering, a decree was issued by
Minister of Economy Youssef Boutros-Ghali, aiming to modify capital-market
regulations. The decree states that securities-brokerage companies
must be supervised by the Central Bank if they have clients whose
transactions exceed £E 100,000.
MOBINIL RECOMMENDED:
Lehman Brothers recommended MobiNil as a “strong buy”
at £E 65, after it began coverage of African telecoms. Lehman
Brothers rated Orascom Telecom as a “market perform,”
with a fair value of £E 20. At the time of the announcement,
OT’s shares inched up on the news, while MobiNil’s share
price decreased slightly.
MORE FOREIGN RESERVES:
The Central Bank of Egypt announced that foreign reserves rose by
8 percent to $15.38 billion in July 2001, compared with $14.244
billion in June 2001, due mainly to the $1.5 billion Eurobond issue.
BOURSE LEADS REGION:
In the period from October 14 to 18, The Cairo Stock Market showed
the most improvement among similar developed and emerging markets
registering a 3.8 percent climb. Other emerging markets posted an
average decline of 0.72 percent.
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