The most important stories from February
The five most important business and economy stories out of Egypt in February 2018:
- Egypt signed natural gas import agreements with Israel, on track for one with Cyprus, and planning for exports to Europe by mid this year.
- The central bank cut interest rates by 100 bps, signalling victory over inflation.
- Egypt’s USD 4 bn eurobond issuance was more than 3x oversubscribed in what Finance Minister Amr El Garhy said was “excellent news.” The government is planning issuing USD 3-4 bn in eurobonds in FY2018-19.
- The automotive directive is set to be voted into law by 2Q2018 and the government is revising the minimum local component requirements that would make producers eligible for incentives under it. Oh, and the Consumer Protection Authority is aiming to oversee the sale of cars.
- Egypt now has a bankruptcy law that decriminalizes bankruptcy by abolishing prison sentences with special bankruptcy courts to arbitrate on these cases now being formed.
- Bonus: Emerging markets, including Egypt, outperformed “richer counterparts” during the global sell-off, Bloomberg noted earlier in February. Egypt was the only one of its peers to make a small gain and see its market capitalization increase, thanks largely to the impact of the currency float.