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| ROUND UP: The month at a glance |
OCI launches GDR:
Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) announced on August 19 the
launch of its global depositary receipt (GDR). According to HC Securities,
100,000 local OCI shares will be converted into global receipts
through the Bank of New York at a price of $13 per GDR.
Euromoney forum postponed:
The 7th Arab Financial Forum, scheduled to take place in Cairo on
September 9 and 10, has been postponed until next year due to regional
political tension and difficult market conditions. The forum, organized
by Euromoney Conferences, was meant to bring officials, economists
and other experts from Egypt, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon together
to discuss issues such as globalization and the Middle East’s
media image.
Reserves hold steady:
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced that net international
reserves totaled $13.7 billion in May, a mere 0.5-percent drop from
April. Domestic liquidity reached £E 321.9 million, an increase
of 1.8 percent over April.
More Egyptians connected:
Egypt’s total exchange capacity reached 9.4 million lines,
while fixed-line subscribers reached 7.2 million by late July, the
Ministry of Communications & Information Technology announced.
These numbers are expected to rise to 10.5 million and 8 million,
respectively, by June 2003. Also by June 2003, Egypt should have
1.7 million Internet users, up from a base of 300,000 users, and
the number of payphones nationwide is expected to increase by 7,000
to 50,000. The number of mobile-phone subscribers, meanwhile, has
increased to 3.952 million from 654,000 in October 1999.
Royal Meridien dethroned:
On August 8, the management contract between the Saudi-Egyptian
Touristic Development Co. (SETD) and Le Royal Meridien Hotels &
Resorts was unexpectedly terminated. Following the decision by SETD
to eject the French hotel firm, the recently constructed Royal Meridien
tower in Garden City will now be known as the Royal Nile Tower.
According to a press release from SETD, the Saudi-Egyptian joint
venture has owned the property since 1990 and has invested a total
of $380 million in the tower and its adjacent shopping mall.
Al-Nasr Glass cracks:
The Holding Company for Metallurgical Industries announced in late
July that Al-Nasr for Glass & Crystal had been divided into
three factories, each to be sold. The holding company is examining
offers to buy Al-Nasr’s Yassin factory (for household utensils
and inscribed flat glass) and its glass-bottle factory. The company’s
ampoule factory has already been sold.
Canal profits waver:
Revenues of the Suez Canal slid $70 million to $1.877 billion in
the 2001/02 fiscal year, which ended June 30, compared to the previous
year.
Telspec signs local deals:
In late July, British telecom-equipment company Telspec signed contracts
to supply 62,500 lines to the National Services Project Organization
(NSPO) and 45,000 lines to the Arabian Telecommunications Projects
Company (ATPC), entities that maintain access networks for Telecom
Egypt. In 2001, Telspec provided NSPO and ATPC with 62,500 and 30,000
subscriber lines, respectively, helping to shorten waiting lists
for telephones, mainly in the Cairo area.
IMF adds £E 47 billion:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) added £E 47 billion
to Egypt’s assets, Prime Minister Atef Ebeid announced in July.
This figure represents the net difference between amounts allocated
by the government to repay foreign debt and amounts already paid
over the last 10 years, he said. The IMF puts Egypt’s GDP growth
rate for the 2002/03 fiscal year at 4 to 4.5 percent, up from 2
to 3 percent the previous year. The budget deficit is expected to
remain at 5 percent of GDP.
Tourism strong, IMF says:
Egypt’s rejection in February of a $500 million International
Monetary Fund (IMF) loan reflected a strengthening of its economy,
Abdel-Shakour Shaalan, an IMF executive director, suggested in July.
He cited an increase in tourism this summer over last summer and
a recovery in export profits as two signs of economic strength.
The loan was offered to help deal with an expected drop in tourism
after September 11.
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