July 25, 2012 By Farah Halime CAIRO // When Ahmed El Naggar opened the world’s first Islamic bank in Egypt in 1963, the country looked as if it could harness that legacy to grow into one of the biggest Islamic finance hubs in the world. But years of suspicion that the Muslim Brotherhood, illegal at … Continue reading
July 01, 2012 By Farah Halime CAIRO // As politicians and economists start drawing up plans to bring Egypt’s economy back from the brink, the country’s small business owners say they are unlikely to reap benefits any time soon. The election of a new president, Mohammed Morsi,has put the country on a firmer footing on … Continue reading
June 20, 2012 By Farah Halime CAIRO—The standoff over Egypt’s presidential elections is reverberating through the country’s financial markets, raising the threat of a collapse in the currency and driving investors away from its stocks and bonds. Egyptian stocks have fallen 6.6% since this past weekend’s runoff elections ended in a political stalemate. The drop … Continue reading
June 08, 2012 By Farah Halime CAIRO // Planet Investment Banking was until a fortnight ago a company known only to a relative few. But it has been propelled into the spotlight as a bidder for the Arab world’s biggest publicly traded investment bank, EFG Hermes, in what could become the Middle East’s first hostile … Continue reading
June 06, 2012 By Farah Halime CAIRO (Zawya Dow Jones)–Just days after Egypt’s EFG Hermes received full shareholder support for its planned alliance with Qatar’s QInvest , the Planet IB consortium that is attempting a hostile takeover of the bank said shareholders should force the board to either allow the group of investors to conduct due diligence … Continue reading
June 03, 2012 By Farah Halime CAIRO // Finding a president who will revive Egypt’s failing economy has left voters with a stark choice between a candidate who favours massive state intervention and one who believes that small businesses are the key to prosperity. The role and power of the state divides the economic manifestos … Continue reading
May 31, 2012 By Farah Halime CAIRO (Zawya Dow Jones)–The chief executives of Egypt’s biggest investment bank along with the sons of former President Hosni Mubarak and five others have been charged for alleged insider trading on the country’s stock market. Yasser El Mallawany and Hassan Heikal, co-Chief Executives of EFG Hermes (HRHO.CI), the Arab … Continue reading
May 25, 2012 By Farah Halime In Boulaq El Dakrour, the largest informal settlement in Giza, Cairo, two widows sit in a cramped room facing each other listening to the tinny sound of prayer recital on the radio. One begins to cry. Wafa’s husband died from cancer just over a year ago and she has … Continue reading
May 21, 2012 By Farah Halime GIZA, Egypt—Businesses relying on tourists visiting Egypt’s ancient sites are counting on the post-revolution presidential elections later this month to calm political turbulence, allowing their companies to return to something resembling normal after suffering their worst slump in three decades. Until the revolution last year that toppled the long-standing … Continue reading
May 06, 2012 By Farah Halime CAIRO // Egypt’s petroleum ministry is struggling to keep its spending under tabs. Now overspending threatens one of the most important projects in the nation: the contract for natural gas. Having made significant gas discoveries over the past decade, Egypt has the 16th-largest proved natural-gas reserves in the world … Continue reading
