Back to the complete issue
Monday, 1 October 2018

Egypt is doing better than other EMs, government is launching an anti-Hep C campaign, public school classes are too crowded

Last night was one of bland miscellany on the airwaves, with the talking heads taking on topics ranging from emerging market troubles, to the government’s new Hep C campaign, and overcrowding of public school classrooms.

The lone bright spot: Egypt is faring better than most of its emerging market peers, EFG Hermes Head of Research Ahmed Shams Eldin told Hona Al Asema’s Reham Ibrahim. He pointed out that high foreign debt levels are the main challenge facing most EMs today, but said that Egypt’s debt levels — while still high — are within relatively safe bounds (watch, runtime: 2:36). You can watch the full interview here, runtime: 30:28.

The government is launching today a national campaign to treat Hepatitis C, which will take off in nine governorates in phaes one, among them South Sinai, Matrouh, Assiut, Portsaid, Alexandria, Beheira, Damietta, Fayoum and Qalubiya, Health Ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed told Hona Al Asema. Mobile health clinics will be parked out in densely-populated areas to test people and positive patients will be transferred to the closest available facility for treatment at no charge, he added (watch here, runtime: 12: 41 and here, runtime: 13:28).

The first phase of the campaign will run through October and November, while the full program will take about seven months to complete, National Committee for Control of Viral Hepatitis member Yehia El Shazly told Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 13:28). Authorities in Assiut are already calling on citizens to take the tests, according to Hona Al Asema’s reporter there (watch, runtime: 4:44). The initiative has received USD 262 mn in funding from the World Bank.

Egypt needs to add around 200k classrooms a year to its existing capacities but can only add about 20k currently, Education Minister Tarek Shawky told Amr Adib on El Hekaya, explaining that the government has been unable to keep up with population growth levels. Most public school classrooms house around 45 students on average, he added, noting that the overcrowding of classrooms is addressed in the government’s new educational reform strategy (watch, runtime: 5:40).

Meanwhile, Deputy Transport Minister Amr Shaat updated Hona Al Asema on ongoing railway upgrades (watch, runtime: 6:44 and here, runtime: 35: 32).

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.