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follow up
trade ministry notes sorry
lack of iraq subcontracts
[“us iraq policy keeps regional players guessing,” october
2003]
a recent report from the foreign trade ministry – released
shortly before orascom telecom won its central iraq license –
states that egyptian-registered companies didn’t win any subcontracts
in the reconstruction of iraq, save for one company that would supply
iraq with vehicles. the report added that most of the old contracts
dating back to the oil-for-food arrangement would not be re-implemented,
as that agreement had been nullified by the united nations security
council.
another recent report, presented by foreign minister ahmed maher
to the government, states that egypt had been excluded from getting
contracts because egyptian companies had supposedly asked for a
longer time to ship exported commodities to iraq. maher suggested
that foreign companies had promised delivery of required products
in a “shorter period,” and therefore got the awards.
the local press, however, lost no time in pointing out that israel,
by contrast, had won several subcontracts. but according to ibrahim
al jaafari, president of the us-appointed iraqi governing council,
who visited egypt in august, the assertions simply aren’t true.
“the governing council realizes that this is a very sensitive
issue that has to be avoided completely,” he said during his
meeting with maher in cairo.
summer said
top
foreign adventure ends,
local trash firms move in
[“garbage collection farmed out,” april 2003]
cairo governor abdel rehim shehata announced in october that rights
to collect garbage in cairo’s southern district would go to
an egyptian sanitation company, following a slew of complaints about
the efficiency of the foreign companies mandated earlier this year
with waste collection in cairo and giza.
according to chairman of cairo’s cleanliness & beautification
authority mohamed laban, four local companies have registered to
bid on the south cairo contract, which is divided into five districts.
“we would like to see local companies benefit from the £e
90 million in investments in the project,” laban said.
problems have dogged the scheme since april, when three private
spanish and italian garbage collection companies took over the traditional
jobs of the zabbaleen, the indigenous garbage collectors. citizens
complained that the streets were more littered with trash than ever,
and that garbage wasn’t being collected regularly. shehata,
therefore, reportedly imposed £e 12 million in fines on the
foreign companies for failing to comply with their contracts.
the egyptian company for garbage collection (ecgc) is well positioned
to win the south cairo bid, since it has experience collecting garbage
in maadi, where it also shares a rapport with the zabbaleen.
the future of the over 50,000 native trash men working in cairo
has also been a controversial aspect of the governorate’s drive
to privatize garbage collection. according to ecgc maadi project
manager mohamed hussein afifi, the company pays zabbaleen £e
1 a month for every apartment or shop they collect garbage from.
any garbage collector who fails to collect trash regularly from
any household is subject to a fine of £e 10, he added.
afifi insisted that the company is committed to “making the
whole district clean,” noting that the use of a local company
would have the additional advantage of putting an end to the controversy.
“our people will collect the garbage from the door of each
flat, and they will clean the streets, bus stations and hospital
entrances,” afifi assured.
fierce debates have also emerged among citizens about the legality
of garbage collection fees, added to monthly electricity bills (as
a percentage of the premises’ electricity consumption), with
many refusing to pay the extra fee. in september, a group of giza
residents launched a lawsuit against the governorate, alleging the
service charge – and the fines imposed for not paying –
violated their rights under the constitution.
but laban noted that, under the south cairo contract, fees for garbage
collection will be £e 2 per month for households consuming
up to 50 kilowatts per month of electricity; £e 3 for consumption
of 51 to 200 kilowatts; £e 4 for 201 to 350 kilowatts; and
£e 8 for 651 to 1,000 kilowatts.
commercial enterprises, meanwhile, will be broken down into three
categories depending their on electricity consumption, paying between
£e 5 and £e 150 a month for low and medium consumption,
or a one percent additional levy on their bills for high-consumption
enterprises (like government buildings and cinemas).
to apply the levy to all districts more or less evenly, garbage
collection fees in areas where trash collection has already been
privatized will be slashed by 40 percent, laban said.
summer said
top
factories producing unregulated
cakes, biscuits
[“cadbury picks up local bubble gum concern, july 2003]
health officials are calling for a crackdown on illegal, unregistered
food factories in the country’s poorer governorates, which
are, reportedly, producing cheap snacks not up to even minimum standards
of safety – and which pose unfair competition to legitimate
producers.
referred to as biaar al-silim, or “cupboard-under-the-stairway”
factories, these illegal plants have thrived over the past 10 years,
especially in places like boulak, warrak and sayeda zeinab. “such
factories produce more than 80 percent of the total food products
in egypt,” said salwa bayoumi, dean of cairo university’s
faculty of agriculture and deputy of the shura council’s agricultural
committee.
chairman of the federation for food industries safwan thabet confirmed
that these factories represent 80 percent of egypt’s food production.
according to bayoumi, food produced at these factories typically
fails to comply with health ministry standards. processed food products
– mainly snacks, cakes and biscuits – are appealing to
children, which also makes parents uneasy about potential health
risks involved in consuming products from unregulated factories.
“we’re unable to keep watch over what our children eat
all the time,” said salma ahmed, a mother of two boys in primary
school. “the ministry must stop these factories, in order to
protect the health of our children, who can’t tell the difference.”
according to chairman of the industrial supervision authority ali
abdel nabi, health inspectors are keeping their eyes open for violators.
in july and august, for instance, inspectors seized over 6 million
bottles of adulterated fruit juice produced in illegal factories
in six different governorates and one of the new cities outside
of cairo. the contaminated juice – deceptively bottled in the
containers of well-known juice brands – was apparently on its
way to neighboring arab countries.
in addition to making illegal profits from foreign markets (and
savaging egypt’s reputation), these factories endanger the
health of egyptians, who tend to look for the best buys, especially
in these days of inflation. “bottles should be used only once,”
observed mohamed farag amer, chairman of the investor’s association
in borg al arab city. “can you imagine the disasters that are
possible by drinking from bottles that were taken from the garbage
and refilled without proper sterilization?”
amer urged the ministry of health to launch a series of campaigns
to dismantle these factories – or at least bring them into
compliance with a minimum set of health standards.
member of the shura council’s economic and monetary affairs
committee laila al khoaga warned that potential investors in the
food industry might be dissuaded from entering the market because
of the unfair competition these unlicensed factories pose.
multinational food and beverages companies, though, are hardly avoiding
the local market for foodstuffs. according to statistics from the
cairo & alexandria stock exchanges, of the 47 foreign acquisitions
since 2000, 12 were in the food industry. the most recent buyouts
include us-based kraft foods’ takeover of domestic snack food
manufacturer family nutrition in april, and cadbury egypt’s
may acquisition of local international company for gum.
in may, greek company edita also managed to acquire a 20.4-percent
stake in international food company, the local distributor of hostess-brand
products.
whatever dangers illegal factories pose to multinational competitors,
egypt’s 70 million-plus biscuit lovers have so far proven irresistible.
summer said
top
eib chooses cairo for regional headquarters
[gov’t endorses eu fta,” may 2003]
an indication that the egypt-eu association agreement is well on
its way to forging closer ties between cairo and countries of the
european bloc, the european investment bank (eib) chose cairo as
the home of its first office outside european territory.
eib chairman philippe maystadt, speaking in cairo at the bank’s
october 2 inauguration, said eib allocates a total of around €40
million worldwide annually, 12 percent of which is devoted to projects
in the middle east.
maystadt noted that egypt’s central position in the mediterranean
region is ideal for a regional headquarters. the chairman added
that the office represented a sign of the eu’s desire to “strengthen
and bolster” its ties with its mediterranean neighbors. the
eu has forged partnerships and free trade agreements with several
sea-side countries under its euro-mediterranean framework, launched
in 1995. “we chose the egyptian capital on account of the political,
economic and social stability egypt enjoys,” he said.
according to minister of finance medhat hassanein, eib has allotted
€4 million to set up projects throughout the region, all of
which will be supervised from the new cairo headquarters. eib is
recognized in egypt most prominently for its €350 million drive
to modernize egyptian industry.
maystadt said that in the coming period, funds would be devoted
to initiatives in public works, including power, electricity, irrigation
and drinking water. the chairman noted that €2.5 million had
gone towards projects in egypt so far.
cairo ratified a free trade agreement with the eu – egypt’s
largest trading partner – in april, which stipulates the dismantlement
of industrial duties over 12 to 15 years while increasing tariff
quotas on various agricultural products.
in related news, italy’s bank of valletta officially inaugurated
its new representative office in egypt in early october – its
third such office in the southern mediterranean region, after tunisia
and libya. the office is part of the bank’s strategy of internationalization,
geared towards the euro-mediterranean region.
mohamed mursi
top
local firms seek repayment
of gulf war-era debts
[“us iraq policy keeps players guessing,” october 2003]
many egyptian export firms are demanding around $1 billion in debts
owed them by iraq, dating back to before the 1990 iraqi invasion
of kuwait.
in february, 24 local private companies, members of the commodities
council for engineering industries, presented a complaint to the
government, including the prime minister and ministers of foreign
trade and public enterprise, in which they appealed for money that
has been owed them for 13 years. this figure includes roughly $500
million in original debt plus interest charges.
in 1985, egypt and iraq formed a bilateral economic, social, scientific
and artistic cooperation agreement, to be renewed annually. under
the pact, egyptian private companies exported goods to iraq, financed
by dollar-denominated credits. at the renewal of the agreement every
year, iraq would pay the money owed to the egyptian firms.
in november 1989, the two countries agreed that iraq could postpone
payment for that year’s exports until april 1990, due to the
country’s political troubles. but payment never came, and after
the invasion of kuwait, trade between the two countries ceased.
since egyptian firms hadn’t received payment for the previous
year, they were unable to pay back the export-financing loans they
had taken out from local banks. the firms also declared in their
february complaint that they had suffered a serious liquidity shortage
due to the high interest charges on these loans.
the businesses have apparently approached the un compensation committee,
as well as the egyptian government, with their grievance, but have
yet to be compensated. “all egyptian businesses that incurred
great losses as a result of the [1990-91] gulf war have presented
the government with lots of documents and held hundreds of meetings,”
said the chairman of one of the companies, speaking on condition
of anonymity. “the government seems unwilling to pay a penny
[on reconstruction] until it collects our money from iraq.”
one solution the plaintiffs suggested is to have the national investment
bank pay the debts owed the companies until these funds can be recovered
from iraq. “the government can increase the tariffs on imports
from iraq by 5 percent and pay us back,” said one company official.
he proposed that the central bank of egypt cover 50 percent of the
debts, while the tax authority should stop collecting taxes from
these companies until the crisis is resolved.
khaled moussa al-omrani
top
private sector joins quest
for more efficient mass transit
[“planes, trains and automobiles,” august 2003]
in order to improve mass transit throughout the capital, cairo’s
public transportation authority has forged alliances with several
private sector companies. in the latest arrangement, the authority
has launched a venture with the local agent for mercedes-benz to
run a brand new fleet of minibuses along two new routes.
under what has been dubbed the mass transportation project, the
manufacturing commercial vehicles company (mcv) has purchased a
fleet of locally manufactured mercedes minibuses, agreeing to cover
all the project’s operational costs in exchange for permission
to use public stations and lines. the transport authority, meanwhile,
will reap a percentage of any profits.
“the private sector’s contribution primarily aims to lighten
the burdens that have been overloading the authority, while offering
ordinary egyptian citizens an affordable, high-quality transportation
service,” explained sameh mohareb, the project’s utilization
manager.
in the scheme’s first phase, 18 minibuses have begun offering
service on two routes. the first line runs 10 minibuses from the
shobra station to nasr city’s sixth district, while the second
line runs eight minibuses from masalla to sayeda zeinab. as part
of the agreement, mcv must maintain ticket prices at £e 1,
and the authority has the right to supervise the agreement’s
implementation.
to ensure good customer service, mcv inspectors will do random spot-checks
on the vehicles, to ensure that ticket payment procedures are followed,
that drivers conscientiously follow the rules of the road, that
the buses are clean and that the no-smoking rule is enforced. the
minibuses will be given daily maintenance checks.
passengers are calling the new buses momayez (deluxe), and many
hope they will become available city-wide in the near future. “i
arrive at work much faster now because i only have to take one bus
from masalla to sayeda zeinab rather than two,” said daily
commuter ayman fawzy.
amany qadry, another satisfied passenger, noted that the new buses
are more comfortable for women, “who feel uneasy in excessively
overcrowded vehicles.” unlike traditional minibuses, once all
27 seats of the new buses are occupied, drivers must turn on a “fully
occupied” sign and aren’t allowed to accept any more passengers.
still, the new buses have yet to catch on – and many can be
seen tooling along half empty. “people don’t know about
the new momayez buses yet,” said mohareb. “it’s the
duty of the mass media to inform people about the project.”
authority chairman nabil el mazny, meanwhile, noted that other private
companies were being approached to take part in the project.
marwa a. al’asar
top
more franco-egyptian cooperation
on energy
[“oil ministry changes export strategy,”may 2003]
egypt and france signed a gas export deal in october that will
see egypt export some $500 million worth of natural gas to france
annually for the next 20 years.
france-based gaz de france will build a gas liquefaction plant at
idko, in the governorate of beheira, expected to pump some 3.6 million
tons per year of gas, minister of petroleum sameh fahmy told reporters
in october.
fahmy noted that the deal was part of a larger framework of cooperation
between egypt and france in high-tech industries, including engineering
and construction of gas, petrochemical and oil refinery projects.
among others, he pointed to technip of france, which co-built the
midor oil refinery with an italian firm.
french minister of industry nicole fontaine, speaking in cairo recently,
said french petroleum companies are attracted to egypt’s rich
potential, particularly in light of egypt’s largely untapped
natural gas reserves in the western desert, northern delta and in
deepsea mediterranean regions. at the end of 2002, gas reserves
stood at 58.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf), and many analysts predict
this could climb as high as 120 tcf.
according to international figures, egypt ranks 17 out of 102 countries
that are expected to dominate the natural gas industry in the coming
years, when gas is anticipated to replace oil as the world’s
largest energy source.
egypt and jordan inaugurated a $200 million, 248-kilometer-long
gas pipeline from the egyptian port of al arish to the gulf of aqaba
in september.
mohamed mursi
top
health ministry promises
locally produced insulin
[“float policy brings drug debate to the fore,” april
2003]
the health ministry, after combating a shortage of vital insulin
that has largely kept pace with the country’s foreign exchange
shortfall, has announced that egypt will soon be producing its own
insulin.
during the past 12 months, insulin, indispensable to diabetics,
has been largely absent from the country’s pharmacies. many
patients have had no choice but to resort to the black market, where
the traditionally £e 6 package was being sold for £e
20 as of december 2002, and for £e 25 by mid-2003.
but after the government holding company for medicines was accused
of deliberately withholding imported insulin, health minister mohamed
awad tageldeen announced in july of last year that the local manufacture
of insulin was the answer. the vaccine & inoculation authority
(via) was asked to manufacture the substance at its factories for
egypt’s approximately 7 million diabetics.
afterwards, though, the health minister admitted that egypt lacked
the technical and financial capabilities to manufacture insulin
fit for human consumption. therefore, he said, egypt would manufacture
some ingredients and leave others to foreign companies.
in october, tageldeen announced that, within a year, insulin would
be manufactured in egypt – in its entirety. “we cooperated
with china to get their biotechnology know-how,” he said. according
to tageldeen, besides covering market demand, producing insulin
locally would help save the country $35 million annually on importing
the medicine.
the new, home-made insulin, he said, will be extracted from human
cells and manufactured by means of genetic engineering. “the
egyptian product will measure up to the world’s highest standards,”
he said, adding that it had already been tested for effectiveness.
sameh abdel shaqqour, dean of the national institute for diabetes,
described the new egyptian insulin as representing an unprecedented
scientific leap for the country. “it’s the first step
on the road to a radical solution of the insulin shortage problem,”
he said.
diabetics, though, still worry. amin abdel galil, a 35-year-old
diabetic, said he doubts the government will come through on its
promise. if it does, though, he “hopes the new insulin will
be as effective as the old insulin we used to have.”
summer said
top
smart village opens, preens
for investors
[“first companies to launch at smart village,” september
2003]
the pyramids smart village project has finally opened its doors,
two years after it was first announced, marking another step in
the country’s plan to reinvent itself as the region’s
technological hub.
the 300-acre smart village, located in sixth of october city just
outside cairo, was inaugurated by president hosni mubarak and communications
and information technology (cit) minister ahmed nazif on 21 september.
for the government, it was very much an occasion to show off the
village’s wonders to potential investors, as well as play up
the proficiency of egypt’s cheap labor pool. “besides
the modern, newly upgraded infrastructure, excellent geographical
location, strong government commitment... and conducive investment
environment, i would like to lay emphasis on our most valuable asset:
our people,” said mubarak.
featuring immaculate green lawns and futuristic pyramid-shaped buildings,
it is, in effect, a much higher-tech version of the free zones that
exist elsewhere in egypt, like those in nasr city and ismailiya.
like these more primitive zones, the smart village offers 10-year
tax breaks to foreign investors, and additional advantages to companies
that export. while other free zones currently host it companies,
including software arabization specialist sakhr software, based
in the nasr city free zone, this is the first such zone conceived
specifically for the high-tech sector.
the smart village is tailored to the industry, featuring up-to-date
network and communications infrastructure and on-site training facilities.
owned and operated by a private consortium (with the cit ministry
holding a 20-percent stake through its contribution of land for
the project), it has already attracted big local and international
companies, including alcatel, raya holding and microsoft. it also
hosts the software engineering certification center, a private-public
partnership to provide training to local software companies; ideavelopers,
an it incubator financed by efg-hermes; and xceed, telecom egypt’s
new 1,200-operator-capacity call center.
microsoft chairman bill gates made an appearance at the inauguration
through a pre-recorded video message, in which he praised the project
and announced microsoft egypt’s intention to relocate part
of its staff there.
but despite gates’ praise, egypt faces tough competition for
regional it supremacy. over the past few years, dubai has noticeably
leaped ahead of cairo, attracting foreign investment and the regional
headquarters of many international firms. dubai’s success is
largely attributable to its own version of the smart village, the
dubai internet city, launched over two years ago.
and dynamic as the cit is said to be, there’s little it can
do vis-à-vis perpetual concerns about egypt’s macroeconomic
policy and lack of transparency. the smart village has already met
with some success, but it will need to woo a lot more players to
egypt’s it landscape to meet expectations.
issandr el amrani
top
foreign dancers reply to
decree
[“govt. intends to nationalize belly dancing,” september
2003]
a number of lawsuits have been filed related to a government decree
in august banning foreign bellydancers from performing on the local
entertainment circuit. plaintiffs claim it is unfair to allow one
cultural group to monopolize a performing art that has become popular
internationally.
the first lawsuit was filed by yasser allam, husband of the famous
russian dancer nour, who is personally suing minister of manpower
and immigration ahmed el amawi for issuing the decree, which would
prevent foreign women from performing belly-dancing acts in egypt
from january 1, 2004.
many dancers, inspired by allam’s action, followed suit. “despite
the fact that the decree really harms our livelihoods, many foreign
dancers, like myself, were hesitant to take any action,” said
caroline helen, an oriental dancer from australia. “i spent
a lot of time talking to other dancers, but it was allam who pushed
me to pursue litigation.”
helen said she’s not after money. rather, she takes issue at
the fact that the decree presumes that belly dancing is a purely
egyptian art form that shouldn’t be subject to foreign intrusion.
according to nour, russian dancers come to cairo because it is regarded
as “the worldwide center for oriental dancing,” offering
opportunities to be trained by such veteran egyptian dancers as
rakia hassan and others. officials at red sea resorts in hurghada
and sharm al sheikh said that nightclubs and hotels would witness
a serious shortage of dancers once the ban is in place, because
they hire mostly russian dancers.
but some observers said the reason for the ban stems from the seedy
reputation foreign bellydancers – particularly russian ones
– have developed in egypt. mainstream belly dancing is often
looked down upon by an increasingly conservative population, and
doesn’t need to have its name dragged any further through the
mud by disreputable dancers, the popular argument goes.
legitimate foreign bellydancers, though, insist that they perform
high-quality work, and should not be prevented from performing.
“el amawi should come and see our performance of oriental dance
before he takes such decisions,” helen stressed.
others, however, note that famous bellydancers often transfer their
bulky dollar-denominated incomes back to their home countries –
averting money away from the local industry. still, one official
at the chamber of tourism, requesting anonymity, said well-known
dancers are a cash cow for the government, which collects taxes
off of earnings that typically exceed £e 100,000 a month.
khaled moussa al-omrani
top
chamber objects to unilateral
store closures
[“economic woes hit smes hard,” april 2003]
the cairo chamber of commerce hopes to stop the unfair treatment
of owners of small commercial shops in cairo whose stores can be
unilaterally shut down by the government without prior notice or
adequate justification.
the chamber has appealed to the government to introduce a law preventing
authorities from shutting down a shop without first receiving a
court order. currently, a district governor or head official may
lawfully issue an order to shut down a store based only on complaints
that the store is violating its license, or doesn’t have a
license at all.
member of parliament moustafa al sallab, who sits on the chamber’s
board, said that, in many districts, authorities shut down shops
for trivial reasons, which serves to blacken the reputation of the
shop owner and can have negative repercussions on his or her future
business. “a trader’s reputation is the most important
thing. when a trader loses that, he loses his whole livelihood,”
al sallab stressed. “shops should therefore not be closed down
before a proper investigation by a general prosecutor and a court
ruling is issued,” he added.
employees in governors’ offices often abuse their power by
soliciting or accepting bribes from store owners in exchange for
refraining from reporting violations, according to fatma aboul ezz,
the chamber’s general secretary. indeed, police stations confirm
that many such municipal employees have been arrested for attempting
to blackmail traders.
chamber officials insist that shop owners must be informed if they
are in violation of any laws before action is taken against them.
khaled moussa al-omrani
top
eib chooses cairo for
regional headquarters
[gov’t endorses eu fta,” may 2003]
an indication that the egypt-eu association agreement is well on
its way to forging closer ties between cairo and countries of the
european bloc, the european investment bank (eib) chose cairo as
the home of its first office outside european territory.
eib chairman philippe maystadt, speaking in cairo at the bank’s
october 2 inauguration, said eib allocates a total of around €40
million worldwide annually, 12 percent of which is devoted to projects
in the middle east.
maystadt noted that egypt’s central position in the mediterranean
region is ideal for a regional headquarters. the chairman added
that the office represented a sign of the eu’s desire to “strengthen
and bolster” its ties with its mediterranean neighbors. the
eu has forged partnerships and free trade agreements with several
sea-side countries under its euro-mediterranean framework, launched
in 1995. “we chose the egyptian capital on account of the political,
economic and social stability egypt enjoys,” he said.
according to minister of finance medhat hassanein, eib has allotted
€4 million to set up projects throughout the region, all of
which will be supervised from the new cairo headquarters. eib is
recognized in egypt most prominently for its €350 million drive
to modernize egyptian industry.
maystadt said that in the coming period, funds would be devoted
to initiatives in public works, including power, electricity, irrigation
and drinking water. the chairman noted that €2.5 million had
gone towards projects in egypt so far.
cairo ratified a free trade agreement with the eu – egypt’s
largest trading partner – in april, which stipulates the dismantlement
of industrial duties over 12 to 15 years while increasing tariff
quotas on various agricultural products.
in related news, italy’s bank of valletta officially inaugurated
its new representative office in egypt in early october – its
third such office in the southern mediterranean region, after tunisia
and libya. the office is part of the bank’s strategy of internationalization,
geared towards the euro-mediterranean region.
mohamed mursi
top
follow up briefs
govt. pleads innocent on fixing exchange rate
finance minister medhat hassanein insisted in october that the government
isn’t interfering with the official exchange rate of the egyptian
pound at local banks, which has hovered in the vicinity of £e
6.15 to the dollar since late july – even as black market dollar
rates weakened to £e 7 and beyond. many bankers, though, maintain
that they have felt pressure from state authorities not to lower
currency rates too far.
in early october, prime minister atef ebeid reiterated that the
official rate – around £e 6.15 to the dollar – “exaggerated”
the weakness of the pound, which he had pegged at £e 5.60
in august. analysts, meanwhile, doubt the authenticity of january’s
controlled currency flotation considering the government’s
move, in september, to fix an exchange rate of £e 5.35 for
imports of staple foodstuffs in a bid to control price rises.
[“official, black market dollar rates diverge,” october
2003]
finance minister resists mounting domestic debt
hoping to reduce egypt’s domestic debt, minister of finance
medhat hassanein said in october that all debt held by the state-owned
national investment bank could be swapped for equity. the move,
he explained, would help reduce weighty budget spending on debt
servicing and encourage closer scrutiny of public projects. at the
end of the fiscal year in june, the government’s domestic debt
stood at £e 246.89 billion.
ratings agency capital intelligence cited rising government debt
as a key factor in lowering egypt’s long-term foreign currency
rating to bb+ from bbb- and its short-term foreign currency rating
to b from a3. domestic debt rose from 61 percent of gdp in june
2000 to 78 percent in june 2003, due largely to the widening of
the budget deficit, the agency said.
[“fiscal reforms address deficit burden,” april 2003]
u.s. wins un mandate for iraq
the un security council unanimously passed a revised us resolution
on iraq’s reconstruction in october. while the resolution stresses
that the transfer of sovereignty back to the iraqi people will take
place as soon as possible, no clear timeline is outlined. until
then, the us-led coalition provisional authority will remain the
over-arching power in iraq. the un’s role in reconstruction,
meanwhile, will be strengthened, but only as far as circumstances
– mostly security-related – permit.
president hosni mubarak said in october that egypt would not abandon
the iraqi reconstruction effort, but warned against “forcing
a political system on iraq that is unsuitable to the iraqi people
with all their different sects.” he said the iraqi people should
take authority over the government in the immediate future.
france, germany and russia – leading critics of the us-led
war on iraq – backed the slightly amended text of the resolution,
but added that they wouldn’t contribute troops or funds to
the reconstruction effort.
[“us iraq policy keeps players guessing,” october 2003]
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