The floundering negotiations over the controversial US$4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which the government has been going back and forth over for more than a year, is choking off a flood of other funding to the...
President Mohamed Morsy’s decision to appoint Hesham Ramez as the new Central Bank of Egypt chief in January was unsurprising to many. Rumors of Farouk Oqda’s possible resignation had been swirling for months, despite the fact that the...
When trying to predict what the coming year has in store in the context of an increasingly intertwined global economy, it is vital to factor in all variables of change, venturing beyond the parameters of local and even regional markets.
The US...
Egypt will start importing natural gas for the first time due to rising local demand that is now outstripping supply, and the shift is expected to further burden an already strained budget deficit.
In an unprecedented move, the Petroleum Ministry...
Egypt's leaders continued negotiations with an IMF delegation for a US$4.8 billion loan this week, sorting out the details of a large-scale economic reform program aimed at reducing the country's growing deficit.
The loan, which has been...
Five male members of an atheist group congregate in one of Cairo’s crowded downtown bars, sipping beer and Pepsi as they discuss their thoughts on religion, sex, science, culture, politics and Egypt’s new ruling regime.
This group...
In what appears to be a last-ditch effort for the government to settle several high-dollar deals domestically instead of paying out millions in international arbitration proceedings, government officials recently designated a special office of the...
Manzala Lake is a brackish lagoon on the eastern side of the Delta in Matareya district. Low, bushy islands push through its surface.
On a road leading away from the lake, a few dozen policemen chat and smoke, waving cars through a makeshift...
Ali Mazen, a day laborer from Fayoum, barely makes enough in Cairo to buy food for his family back home. He can’t imagine how he would cope if basic food prices were to rise.
“The money I make now barely covers my own expenses. I wait...