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Thursday, 5 April 2018

The most important stories from March

The five most important business and economy stories out of Egypt in March 2018 (and the first week of April, too):

  • President Abdel Fattah El Sisi was re-elected for a second term, winning 97.08% of the vote.
  • The central bank cut rates by another 100 bps on the last Thursday of March after inflation rates dropped to 14.4% in February, from 17.1% a month earlier, and ahead of central bank expectations.
  • 23 state-owned companies will IPO or list additional shares on the EGX, the government announced, offering around 15-30% stakes in each. In the private sector, Carbon Holdings tapped a top investment banking house to advise on its IPO, which is set to be the largest in Egypt since 2011.
  • The Administrative Court ordered suspending the licenses for ride-hailing apps Uber and Careem following a case filed by 42 taxi drivers seeking to shut down the platforms’ operations. Both companies appealed the decision.
  • Egypt could become a member of OPEC after 2019, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla told Bloomberg in an interview earlier in March.

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