The Egyptian Pound March 2024 ‘s devaluation in March: A new level of challenges

This is the first true Egypt-centric post after weeks of covering the Gaza war. “I will continue covering this war, this post is exceptional.”

In case you do not know the Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee “MPC”, in an extraordinary meeting, decided on Wednesday to increase the deposit and lending rates for overnight and the main operation rate of the Central Bank by 600 basis points, reaching 27.25 %, 28.25 %, and 27.75%, respectively.

Additionally, credit and discount rates were raised by 600 basis points to reach 27.75 %.

As a result of this decision, the Egyptian pound experienced a significant drop on Wednesday, declining by 6.2 % to approximately LE 50.1 against the US dollar and LE 54.5 against the euro.

Following the announcement by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), the Egyptian government revealed that it had signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to extend the current $3 billion loan deal to $8 billion.

According to the officials, these measures “which are actually a main condition to get the IMF loan” are needed to curb the inflation and the foreign currency black market as we used to have two US dollar prices.

New Central Bank of Egypt’s acting governor, old faces in a time of crisis (Part-1)

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued a decree on 18 August to appoint veteran banker Hassan Abdallah as the acting governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

Hassan Abdallah

Amidst a hard economic crisis, former Governor of the CBE Tarek Amer presented his resignation from his position on a day earlier after serving seven hard years. News or rather rumours spread on news websites that Sisi dismissed Amar first.

The nephew of Egypt’s infamous Abdel Hakim Amer was appointed as a presidential advisor.

Whether he was dismissed or resigned or was told to resign, it had a very positive impact on Egypt’s stock exchange.

Amer presented his resignation a day before the meeting of the scheduled meeting of CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) which many expected to raise the key interest rates and thus lead to more depreciation of the Egyptian pound.

Ramy Fahim case: Chapter Three “A murder in Anaheim by An Irvin Man”

When Fahim moved to work at Pence Wealth Management, it was the beginning of the end for three people including himself.

A screenshot from Fox LA's report about the crime in April 

In the previous chapter last week, we stopped at September 2021 when Ramy Fahim, current Minister of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Nabila Makram’s eldest son announced that he was going to work in a wealth management company in California.

Ramy Fahim joined Pence Wealth Management in Newport Beach, California as a full-time research associate in November 2021 which means he only worked there for 6 months only.

The only known connection known between Fahim and victim Griffin Cuomo was the fact that they were co-workers at Pence Financial Group.

Griffin Cuomo was a fresh graduate from Chapman University in 2021 with a B.A. in Strategic and Corporate Communication with a minor in Creative and Cultural Industries.

He had a girlfriend called Vivien. He joined the company in May 2021 as a marketing and media assistant.

Late Griffin Cuomo 

Now searching around online, the profile of the late Griffin Cuomo was featured in the “Meet the team” with his photo in black and white on the official website of Pence Capital Management before it was removed.

Ramy Fahim's case: Chapter Two "Ramy”

Despite putting up a brave face in the past two days, Minister Nabila Makram of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates teared up when she found herself in front of a standing ovation on Wednesday at the conclusion of the “Egypt Can ... with Industry” Conference.

There was nothing significant for real in the sixth edition of the “Egypt Can” in nutshell but the annual conference which was held at the New Administrative Capital on the outskirts of Cairo and organized by her ministry was the first public event attended by Makram after announcing that her eldest son Ramy was standing trial for murder facing a death penalty in the United States.

تصفيق حاد .. وزيرة الهجرة تبكي أثناء كلمتها بمؤتمر مصر تستطيع بالصناعة pic.twitter.com/uYr1KHJ3cU

— صدى البلد (@ElBaladOfficial) June 1, 2022

Nabila Makram co-inaugurated the conference which aims to benefit from Egyptians abroad’ s expertise with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Tuesday trying to show for real that the matter did not affect her responsibilities as a stateswoman especially after the huge support she received online and from mainstream media. 

Ramy Mounir Fahim 

We got the President of Egypt’s National Council for Woman (NCW) Maya Morsi posting a solidarity post on Facebook to her friend Makram telling her “Fear Not nor grieve” in a direct quotation from the story of Prophet Moses “Peace upon him” in the Holy Quran”

“So, we sent this inspiration to the mother of Moses: "Suckle (thy child), but when thou hast fears about him, cast him into the river, but fear not nor grieve for We shall restore him to thee, and We shall make him one of Our apostles." [28-7]

We also got Nabila Makram featured on the cover of Akher Saa Magazine while praying in a Church with the headline ‘Nabila’s tears’ which can also be read in Arabic as “Noble tears” as Nabila is translated means noble in Arabic. “Seriously, that coverage in that way always fire backs”

A Mother’s Day to remember in Egypt: A new drop in the Egyptian Pound’s value

What we expected and feared happened now.

On Monday, The Monetary Policy Committee “MPC” of the Central Bank of Egypt “CBE” announced raising the Key interest rates for the first time in five years by 1%.

The MPC raised the overnight deposit rate, the overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation by one percent (100 basis points) to 9.25 percent, 10.25 percent, and 9.75 according to Ahram Online for the first since 2017.

The Central Bank of Egypt in Downtown Cairo 
"March 2020" 

You may think 1% is a small percentage but you must think again because it had huge consequences.

The Egyptian Pound plunged into its lowest value in five years against the US dollar going down from LE15.6 for buying and LE15.7 for selling on Sunday to LE18.1 for buying and LE18.2 for selling on Monday.

The Egyptian Pound dropped by 10.67% against the US dollar accordingly. It is worth mentioning that JP Morgan estimated earlier in March that the Egyptian Pound to be overvalued by 15%.

Changing the key interest rate was a matter of urgency because the monthly meeting of the MPC was on Thursday not on Monday or Sunday. Usually, these big economic decisions are announced on Thursday right before the weekend. In some black comedy news, the committee announced it would not convene next Thursday.

Egypt’s Queen Farida at 100: Please Save her tomb, Safeguard Historic Cairo Cemeteries "Updated"

This month does not mark only the centenary of Princess Fawzia Fouad, it is also the centenary of Egypt’s Queen Farida.

Queen Farida is by far the most popular Queen/First lady in Egypt in modern times. We are speaking about an amazing model of an Egyptian woman who did not bend due to hard circumstances whether political or economic situations.

From Egypt’s privileged upper class to the Royal throne to become a young popular Queen then to get a divorce then to face political and economic upheavals then to become a prominent artist in exile before returning to Egypt, Queen Farida was a unique example of Egyptian strong independent woman when you think about it.

I want to write something about her jewelry collection at the Egyptian Royal Jewelry Museum but due to time limits, I could not because it is bigger than Fawzia’s collection.

Instead, I am writing this sad post

The Egyptian government decides to remove the cemetery of Queen Farida giving her family’s descendants very short notice to transfer the remains of their ancestors among other families to very small cemeteries at the 15^th May city’s outskirts because of new highways and bridges plan in Cairo.

Queen Farida's tomb at her family cemetery in Cairo 
"Seif Allah Zulficar" 

So instead of a special exhibit featuring Queen Farida, her jewelry and her art in any of the so many museums we have in Egypt, this is how the Egyptian government celebrates her centenary.

Ethiopia’s GERD to UN Security Council Part 2 : A Night to watch

Egyptians are waiting eagerly for what will happen in New York Thursday as the United Nations Security Council is going to hold a session on the latest developments of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam “GERD” dispute with Ethiopia per the request of Egypt and Sudan from last month.

It is like a football match in the Euro 2021 at least for me.

Both Nile Downstream countries went to the UNSC for the second time after last year as the talks with Ethiopia reached deadlock insisting to go on with the second filing of GERD (It did start filing the dam) again this year. It is a bit Deja vu but this time Sudan is with Egypt, unlike last year.

Tunisia, the only Arab non-permanent member of the UNSC in this session presented a draft resolution to the Council in coordination with the Arab bloc in the UN as well as Egypt and Sudan. I read the draft resolution and it is very balanced. (This is what both Egypt and Sudan want)

The draft resolution stipulates that Ethiopia ceases immediately the second filing of GERD which it started. It also called the three countries to resume negotiations at the joint invitation of the Chairperson of the African Union and the Secretary-General of the UN to finalize, within a period of six months, the text of a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD.

GERD from above as seen by a satellite "Zoom.earth"

Both Egypt and Sudan have been demanding a timeframe for the talks after nearly wasting years in bottomless talks with Addis Abbas.

The resolution adds the required agreement should "ensure Ethiopia's ability to generate hydropower from the GERD while preventing the inflicting of significant harm on the water security of downstream states."

It urges the "three countries to refrain from making any statements or taking any action that may jeopardize the negotiation process.

Kodak Agfa Presents: Quick look to Tahrir square after renovations at night

Here is a small glimpse of  World famous Cairo's Tahrir square after its renovation from the car in April.

Tahrir square after renovation 

The facades of the neoclassical, modernist and Art deco buildings were recoloured and re-painted with the pastel beige and had this new lighting system at night.

The building at the intersection of Tahrir square and Mohamed Mahmoud street

The new lighting system was made by the Public sector ministry and it cost LE 60 million. 

I wonder if all those lights are turned off at a certain time at night or how they manage it. Here is a shaky photo of some of Tahrir square’s buildings.

#IWD2021 : The New Draft Personal Status law

First Happy New International Women’s Day to all the fantastic ladies all over the world

Second, I do not know how we celebrate the IWD 2021 and speak about Women’s Empowerment in Egypt on any level when we are on the verge of having a new Personal Status Law that will be a huge setback to Women’s empowerment in Egypt.

Last week, we knew that among the new draft laws the House of Representatives will discuss and supposedly pass it soon is the new Personal status draft law which was drafted by the Egyptian government.

The new personal status law on the occasion of IWD 2021 by Doaa Al Adl 

Youm 7 website reportedly published a copy of that draft law before removing it according to the women’s rights advocates who took a copy from that draft law.

According to them, it is disastrous for women and a huge setback to women’s empowerment in Egypt.

One of the major points that they raised that this law or those amendments technically cancels the woman’s legal capacity in the first place.

Despite it gives women the right to marry by themselves, it allegedly enables any male “guardian” in the woman’s family to annul or to divorce her.

One of the proposed articles strips mothers from financial guardianship or conservatorship over their minor children giving it to men in the family. I do not know what to say.

Coronavirus on the Nile : The Vaccines of February

Here we are in a new month aka February.

This month marks a whole year since the coronavirus officially arrived Cairo through a Chinese citizen working in a Chinese company in February 2020

After that, the rest is the history we have been living.

Anyhow in February 2021, Egypt is going to have wider vaccination campaigns.

Some related photo from Reuters

On Sunday, Cairo received its first shipment of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine which was officially granted by emergency approval by the Egyptian Drug Authority hours after its arrival from India.

This week will witness the arrival of another shipment of China’s Sinopharm vaccine which is already being used in the vaccination of Medical teams in the country.

We have not started yet the phase of citizens vaccination, which will kick off with the chronic disease patients followed by senior citizens.

Anyhow enough of the talk here is another post of two-weeks-live-updates of everything coronavirus.

Coronavirus on the Nile: Egypt’s COVID-19 December numbers in Graph

This is the time of our monthly post about the coronavirus pandemic and its numbers in graphs.

Needless to say,  December 2020 witnessed a leap in the cases of coronavirus as well as its fatalities and recoveries.

In December 2020, we did not have only an official recognition that we are in the second wave of coronavirus.

The New Year’s Eve celebrations were cancelled. More restrictions were issued once again above them reducing the Not-wearing-the-face-mask in public from LE 4,000 to LE 50 to make it more realistic.

Egyptians wearing masks in a metro station in Cairo 
"Reuters"

Schools are back to be online and more companies are back to work from home or rotation system to reduce work in closed offices.

If you live in Egypt, you will know that as you will find someone in your circle or family’s circle or friend’s circle who tested positive for coronavirus.

The official numbers increased from 400s in December’s first week to 1,400s in the last two days of the month.

Coronavirus on The Nile : Official COVID-19 cases in Egypt by governorates

Last Wednesday, Egypt’s Health Minister Hala Zayed held a press conference to discuss the latest developments concerning the coronavirus situation in Egypt.

Zayed stated at last Egypt was having its second wave moment of the pandemic, it was not a big secret.

She also spoke about how the official numbers of coronavirus witnessed a leap in the past two weeks.

This was not secret too.

Because aside of every day talk between Egyptians themselves concerning the real numbers of cases and fatalities, we got members of the official coronavirus committee in the government speaking in mainstream media about how the real numbers of coronavirus patients are higher than the official numbers because patients do not go to the hospital except in late deteriorating case according to them.

Minister Hala Zayed at the Ministry of health's presser in Cairo 
last week by Mohamed El-Raai

Now one of the things that were important in the Health Minister’s presser that was completely ignored by most of the news outlet is the official percentage of COVID-19 cases in Egypt by governorates.

I believe that the ministry of health should including daily cases per governorate in its daily tally because it will warn the citizens.

Already countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon are doing so.

One of the reasons we are having an increasing number of cases every day is that false feeling of being safe during the pandemic.

Anyhow according to the statement of the minister, Cairo tops the cases of coronavirus since February with nearly 31.7% of the cases.

Coronavirus on the Nile : Early October COVID-19 Live updates

A new month while living under the coronavirus pandemic that killed one million people around the globe.

October has one hell of a start with the news of how the current US President Donald Trump whose policies during coronavirus pandemic were not the best, test positive along with his wife for COVID-19.

Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020

It is like 2020 has still somethings up in its sleeves.

Some countries in the Arab world are witnessing a re-surge in the cases of the coronavirus by the end of September.

So far the situation is stable in Egypt but it is a huge challenge as public schools and universities are going to open their doors officially in Mid October.

Sensitizing Giza zoo by Mohamed Raai 

Egypt is also going to have parliamentary in the second half of October which means those two weeks will witness parliamentary elections campaigns.

Judging the recent numbers which released daily by the Egyptian health ministry last week, Egypt has had a stable infection daily rate and a declining recovery rate.

The government is telling the people that they should follow the precautionary measures especially social distancing and wearing masks.

But again realistically speaking, neither the social distancing is followed nor the masks are worn.

Example: That celebration held on Friday to commemorate the 1973 and to show support to Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi by a bunch of political parties where hundreds of people gathered at Nasr city without masks and no social distancing.

Friday celebration and there is no proper comment 
to describe this

Anyhow; here is our live daily update for the upcoming two weeks. Please stay safe.

Coronavirus on the Nile : A look into 7 months of COVID-19 in Egypt in graph

Another monthly post as part of the COVID-19.

This time it is a quick look into COVID-19 numbers in Egypt after seven months.

I started doing those posts last month when we hit the six months benchmark and actually I found them useful.

They are all based on official numbers released by the Egyptian Health Ministry.

An Egyptian young man wearing mask in front of the Great Pyramid 
of Giza due to COVID-19 "Reuters" 

These are the total numbers of Daily Coronavirus cases, fully recovered patients and fatalities for 7 months.

Coronavirus on the Nile : A look into 6 months of COVID-19 in Egypt in graph

It has been officially six months since Egypt witnessed its first coronavirus case in Mid February when a Chinese national tested positive for the virus and since then it had been a very long 6 months.

According to many is the first phase of the virus that infected nearly 21 million people around the globe, killing from them at least 774,000 at least according to the official numbers of the World Health Organization.

According to many experts, those 6 months have been actually the “first wave”.

Just like any other countries, Egypt had its ups and downs in this stage.

This is just an attempt to recorded those ups and downs in the graph to make it easier for us to understand what has happened.

All the numbers mentioned here are based on the official numbers released by the Egyptian Ministry of Health.

Here are the COVID-19’s total numbers in Egypt from February to July 2020. You can click on the tab

Coronavirus in Six Months: Egypt
Infogram

Here is a breakdown based on monthly total cases, you can click on the tabs.

Coronavirus on the Nile : A New Week of COVID-19 Live Updates

It is a new week under the coronavirus pandemic, which will be for sure the Person of the Year on Time Magazine cover in 2020 along with the Medical teams around the globe.

Without the medical teams around the globe, things would have been worst by all measures including in Egypt.

A doctor during the coronavirus pandemic by Nermine Al-Mofty 

We owe much to the doctors and other medical professions in this crisis.

Officially, coronavirus is under control with daily numbers in 100s but unofficially people including friends and family in my circle report it is back.

It is noticeable that last week that I began to see many warnings that the cases began to reappear following the Eid and going to resorts.

Now without more talk, here is the weekly live updates

Coronavirus on the Nile : Another week of all things COVID-19 in Egypt and Arab World

Another week under the Coronavirus spill in the mid of a hot summer.

The numbers are decreasing in Egypt but many people including myself are concerned that this decrease will be followed by another increase once again just like in other countries.

Preparing the vaccine in Egypt at Eva pharma labs 
"Getty"

The Egyptian government is speaking about the Egyptian citizen’s awareness and honestly, I believe government relying alone on the citizens’ awareness was a lost bet and the number of cases in the United States is a proof for that.

This is why I am concerned and worried.

As humans, we are fed up with this lockdown and it is summer. We will go out and many of us won’t follow the social distancing rules or wear masks because he or she is fed up.

Needless to say, we will pay because of this reckless behaviour. God knows I have heard a lot of examples of this reckless behaviour and it makes me worry. 

Unfortunately, we will be in this cycle till we find a cure or vaccine with affordable price. Please stay safe as much as you can. 

Here is our weekly COVID-19 live update.

Coronavirus on the Nile : COVID-19 Status in Egypt During June 2020 in Graph

We are back with this monthly post about the freaking coronavirus status in Egypt during the month of June 2020.

The month of June 2020 a surge in the daily infection cases, deaths as well as full recovery.

Man selling freska in Cairo with a mask "Getty"

Its last week also witnessed the start of the re-opening of the country by the government despite the number of cases due to economic reasons.

Here is the daily infection rate in June 2020.

#Coronavirus #cases in #Egypt: Daily infection cases in June 2020
Infogram

It went ups and downs but not less than 1,000 per day.

Again I remember the minister of scientific research and high education Khaled Abdel Ghafer and his statement that the cases could be more than the government knowledge.

On Wednesday during a cabinet meeting, Minister of Health Hala Zayed stated that the number of coronavirus cases in Egypt declined from 10,518 from 23 to 29 June period to 8,404 cases from 30 June till 6 July due to “the government’s measures against coronavirus”

It is also worth to mention that recently many doctors began to treat any symptom of flu as a symptom of coronavirus without admitting the patients to hospitals except when their condition needs to.

Ethiopia's GERD on the Nile : Some facts about Egypt and why we are concerned about GERD since day one

It has been a very long time since I have posted something really political or something related to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam especially recently but I guess I can’t ignore anymore.

Egypt has already taken the matter to the United Nations Security Council following the Ethiopian officials that GERD will be filled in early July whether there is an agreement or not.

The Nile in Cairo 

On Monday, Egypt’s Foreign minister Sameh Shoukry addressed the security council with a very important speech about Egypt as well as Sudan’s concerns about GERD and impact.

Shoukry warned that any unliteral action aka Ethiopia fills the dam without an agreement

It was one of the best speeches I have heard from a governmental official in the past ten years. You can read Shoukry’s word here in English from Ahram Online.

Sudan’s UN permanent representative gave a balanced statement asking for a fair agreement supporting Egypt in rejecting any unliteral action from Ethiopia’s side will cause higher tensions in the regime; which is true.

Ethiopia fired back to Shoukry and Egypt with a speech read by its permanent representative to the UN full of inaccurate information with my all due respect.

Ethiopia stated that GERD was not a matter for the UNSC.

In the open session, the member states of the UNSC urged Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to continue talks in order to reach for an agreement. Most of the member states warned of any unilateral action in their short statements except China.

In case you do not know Chinese banks participate in the financing of the huge project with lots of investments in the country. Needless to say, I need to warn the Ethiopians from the Neo-Chinese colonialism in Africa. 

The Nile in Cairo 

Now there are some important points I would like to clarify here in my post concerning GERD and some points I would like to clarify :

General points and facts 

• Egypt depends on the River Nile for 95% of its water needs.
• Egyptians live only 7% of Egypt’s land around the Nile valley because simply we are a dry desert country.
• a water share of around 570 cubic metres per person annually, well below the water scarcity level of 1,000 cubic metres per person per year
• Egypt has very low rainfall with about 18.1 mm of rainfall /year comparting to Ethiopia which has annually 848 mm/year according to the United Nations’ Food and Organization “FAO”.
• The agriculture in Egypt depends mainly on irrigation from the Nile whereas Ethiopia depends on rainfall.
• Egypt’s annual water share from the Nile is 55.5 billion cubic meters of water according to the 1959 treaty.
• Egypt is already committed to this share when according to irrigation experts, we need now actually not less than 80 billion cubic meters to satisfy the true need in the country.
• Egypt does not have enough groundwater to sustain or meet its water demands.
• Professor Farouk El-Baz’ western desert groundwater’s theory and his the ill-fated project were never more than talk in the media because scientists and geologists in Egypt proved him wrong. “Ethiopian media brought it up”
• Yes, we are still using our old agriculture and irrigation techniques but we are trying our best.
• Egypt is already suffering from water poverty and is preparing for the worse because of global warming.
• Desalination won’t meet our Egyptian growing population’s demand alone, not to mention it needs nuclear power project and yes, Egypt has already planned to open a nuclear power plant in Marsa Matrouh to desalinate seawater already but its construction has started yet. “I am against the use of nuclear power in the first place and worried about it”.

Coronavirus on the Nile : Week No.19 “Live Updated”

Here we are with the start of the new week under the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the media calculations, it is the 19th week in Egypt since the outbreak of the virus in Mid-February.

A cute couple wearing masks in Port Said
by Fadel Dawod

Now we start the new week with over 600,000 students are heading on Sunday to the fearful exams of the thanaweya amma high school despite the parents and the Egyptian Medical Syndicate’s concerns about their safety.

. We start a new week and it seems that things politically and diplomatically as well militarily are hot for the current political administration of Egypt with talks about direct Egyptian military intervention in Libya as well as escalating the GERD matter in the UN Security Council.

More businesses and avenues are opening this week. 

The coronavirus continues to spread at the same.

Last week, the numbers of daily infections surged to its highest record but it came down again this week’s Saturday.

Here is the live blogging widget.