Month: December 2020

Al-Sisi meets Vodafone Group CEO, directs for enhancing Egypt’s digital infrastructure

New Administrative Capital named as First Arab Digital Capital for 2021, said Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on Sunday met with Vodafone Group CEO Nick Reed to review the cooperation in the telecommunications sector, asserting Egypt’s keenness to enhance cooperation with international companies that have long-standing experience.

During his meeting, Al Sisi expressed the government’s keenness to promote Vodafone’s investments in the fields of communications, digital transformation, and modern technological systems, in line with the state’s plan for digitisation and comprehensive development.

For his part, Reed said that Egypt is witnessing a comprehensive development process, reflecting wide opportunities for investments. He expressed his company’s eagerness to expand its activities in Egypt, as one of the largest markets in the region in the telecommunications and information technology sector.

The information technology sector can contribute to achieving financial inclusion and sustainable development, developing public services, and providing new job opportunities, Vodafone Group CEO explained.

Reed asserted that the balanced and wise measures taken by Egypt to address the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have contributed to preserving the economic, commercial, and service activities in the country and achieving positive growth rates.

He pointed out that Vodafone will conduct an operational trial of the 5G mobile network in the New Administrative Capital, benefiting from its modern infrastructure.

MM Group intends to contribute 49.9% to Basata non-banking financial services

MM Group announced that it will contribute to increasing the capital of Ibtikar Holding Company for Financial Investments by EGP 150m

MM Group for Industry and International Trade approved the participation in the Basata Financial Holding Company, which operates in the activity of non-banking financial services, with an amount of EGP 30m, which represents 49.9% of the company’s capital.

MM Group said, in a statement to the Egyptian Exchange on Saturday, that it will contribute to increasing the capital of Ibtikar Holding Company for Financial Investments by EGP 150m making the contribution limit amounting to EGP 365m instead of EGP 350m.

Pharos Research sees that Samsung and Nokia’s new models introduction is expected to bear fruit in 4Q20, allowing Kanawat sales to recover after 1H20 weakness. MTIE expects K shops to breakeven by the end of 2H20, lifting some burden off the bottom line.

Despite starting 2020 with a weak performance on local and global challenges, we believe that 3Q20 signs of recovery in the consumer electronics segment, the introduction of new models, adding new home appliances to the company’s distribution network, replicating MTIE’s model in Kanawat, that is in addition to the positive developments in Ebtikar, a flat YoY performance could still be achieved overall. MTIE is currently trading at 2021 P/E of 12.6x and EV/EBITDA of 9.5x.

UK-Africa Investment Summit to kick off in January 2021

New trade agreements between UK and 14 African partners to come into force next January. Egypt signed its trade agreement with the UK in early December

The UK-Africa Investment Summit will launch on 20 January 2021, bringing together business leaders from both regions to explore partnership and investment opportunities, according to the UK Department for International Trade.

The previous edition of the Summit was hosted in London by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at which 27 trade and investment deals worth £6.5bn and commitments worth £8.9bn were announced. Egypt received more than 20% of the new investments.

James Duddridge, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa, said: “Over £6.5bn worth of deals were signed at the UK-Africa Investment Summit 2020, which showcased the UK’s offer to African nations, as a global financial gateway and home to the world’s major investors, regulators and innovators. January’s event will once again bring together British and African businesses and entrepreneurs, to support more prosperous African countries.”

Several EU countries to ban flights from UK over new COVID-19 strain

UK PM Johnson said the country was suffering from a new variant of COVID-19 that was as much as 70% more transmissible than previous variants of the virus

Belgium, France, Italy, Romania and several other EU countries will ban flights from the United Kingdom (UK) over the new coronavirus (COVID-19) variant.

Belgium will ban flights starting Sunday at midnight for at least 24 hours, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on a TV program on the Een, a public Dutch-language TV station in Belgium owned by the VRT. For the time being, the Belgian measure only applies for 24 hours, as scientific consultations on this COVID-19 mutation are still ongoing.
France is to suspend from Sunday midnight (Paris time) for 48 hours all travel from the United Kingdom, “including people related to the transport of goods, by road, air, sea or rail,” the Prime Minister’s Office announced following a cabinet meeting.
“However, it could be extended, if that proves necessary,” he said, according to newspaper Brussels Times.
Eurostar trains between Brussels and London will also be temporarily suspended, according to the report.

Egyptian banking sector achieves EGP 45.549bn net profits in September

Top 10 banks in the Egyptian banking sector account for 65.5% of profits, top 5 banks account for 46.1%

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said that the net profits of banks operating in the Egyptian banking sector recorded about EGP 45.549bn at the end of September 2020.

The CBE stated, in a report on Sunday, that the net return in the banking sector amounted to EGP 110.670bn, while the net income from operating activities amounted to about EGP 132.208bn, while total expenditures recorded about EGP 86.659bn in the third quarter of this year.

The CBE added that the net profits of the top 10 banks in the Egyptian banking sector amounted to about EGP 29.852bn, accounting for 65.5% of the total profits in the banking sector as a whole, while the net return of the top 10 banks amounted to about EGP 73.975bn, and the net income from operating activities reached about EGP 87.521bn, while the total expenses were about EGP 57.669bn.

Developing 1m residential units can increase Egypt’s GDP by EGP 2trn annually: Hisham Talaat Moustafa

Hisham Talaat Moustafa said that talks over launching a mortgage finance initiative for under-development units are very good, but the outlook must be broader.

Hisham Talaat Moustafa, Founder, and Chairperson of TMG Holding said that Egypt’s real estate market will need approximately 30m housing units within the next 30 years to absorb population growth, which is expected to increase by about 60 million people during this period.

Moustafa added that this could be achieved by providing long-term financing at appropriate interest rates.

During a panel discussion on Saturday on the sidelines of Akhbar Al-Youm’s 7th Economic Conference, the TMG Chairperson said that building 1m residential units annually will contribute to a major shift in the Egyptian economy, as they will increase the country’s GDP by around EGP 2trn, and sovereign taxes by EGP 400m.

He explained that challenges that await the local market during the next 30 years are very large and require holding an urgent conference that includes various parties from the government, the private sector, banks, and financing companies so that they can develop a unified strategy for the coming period.

Government concludes Planning Concepts Program in 4 governorates

Planning Concepts Program witnessed the participation of 79 trainees in four governorates, namely North Sinai, South Sinai, Kafr El-Sheikh, and Matrouh

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development concluded the Planning Concepts Program for 79 employees in local administrations of four governorates.

It comes as part of the ministry’s efforts to raise public investment efficiency and improve citizens’ lives in cooperation with the Macroeconomic Reform and Stability project funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, referred to the objectives of the training program represented in linking local plans with Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the economic and social development plans adopted by the state at the national level, in addition to raising the trainees’ capabilities to identify development gaps at the governorate, district, and village levels and follow up on the implementation of projects in a way that achieves the targeted development goals. The training takes into account the planning context of planning departments in service directorates as well as cities and centers in the governorates, she noted, adding that the program addresses the definition of what is an integrated system for following up the investment plan.

Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, British Museum partner to restore ancient mural

Sabah Abdel Razek, Director of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir indicated that the mural dates back 6000 years, and it was transferred from the tomb in 1898

In cooperation with the British Museum, a team of Egyptian Museum in Tahrir square began restoring an ancient Egyptian mural from tomb No. 100 that was discovered in Kom Al-Ahmar, Qena governorate, which is one of the oldest known tombs in Egypt with colored drawings.

Sabah Abdel Razek, Director of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, said that the mural restoration project is part of the first phase of the museum development, and is funded by the European Union in cooperation with the five major European Museums Alliance: British Museum, Egyptian Museum in Turin, Berlin Museum, The Louvre, Leiden Museum in the Netherlands.

She indicated that the mural dates back 6000 years, and it was transferred from the tomb to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir in 1898 and was reconstructed in the early 20th Century.

The ancient Egyptian mural depicts a procession of boats and one of them has shades over a person, possibly the man buried in the tomb. In the lower-left corner, a man appears in control of three bound prisoners. Studies indicate that the deceased (the owner of the tomb) was either a ruler or a member of the elite at the time.