{"id":18650,"date":"2024-03-25T18:28:53","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T16:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=18650"},"modified":"2026-10-09T02:27:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T00:27:42","slug":"newsletter-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/newsletter-27\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dollar Falls and Sugar Prices Rise 33%… and the Government Agrees with Manufacturers to Cut Prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

The dollar exchange rate against the Egyptian pound stabilised today, Monday, 25 March 2024, before the start of trading at Egyptian banks, after the dollar fell officially yesterday at 3 banks: the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr and Banque du Caire. National Bank of Egypt: EGP 46.56 buy and EGP 46.66 sell, down 6 piastres for buying and selling. Banque Misr: EGP 46.58 buy and EGP 46.68 sell, down 12 piastres for buying and selling. Banque du Caire: EGP 46.54 buy and EGP 46.64 sell, down 16 piastres for buying and selling.<\/p>\n

Government companies affiliated with the Ministry of Supply in Egypt announced a 33% increase in the delivery prices of free-market sugar to the commercial sector, bringing the price per tonne to EGP 32,000, as a result of higher production costs and the liberalisation of the exchange rate, according to the companies’ justifications.<\/p>\n

The Egyptian government agreed with manufacturers and traders to begin cutting commodity prices by 15% and 20% within 48 hours, rising to 30% after Eid al-Fitr, in implementation of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s instructions.<\/p>\n

Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Dr Ali Moselhy said that dollars had become available, most of the required raw materials had been released, and the market had begun to respond relatively to some reductions. The supply minister continued: The minimum price reduction should be between 15% and 20%, citing the price of a bottle of oil, for example, which used to cost EGP 100: the old price should be removed and the new price, EGP 80, written on it, and so on for the other basic commodities, including flour, pasta, beans and lentils.<\/p>\n

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Egypt Ninth in the World Among the Most Polluted Countries<\/h3>\n

A report by the Swiss air quality technology company “IQAir” revealed that Egypt was among the ten countries with the most polluted air in the world in 2023, alongside Iraq and the UAE.<\/p>\n

Iraq ranked sixth, followed by the UAE in seventh, then Egypt in ninth place.<\/p>\n

The 2023 report announced that air pollution in the Middle East and North Africa region had broken records. It revealed that eight Arab countries were among the 20 most polluted countries in the world in terms of the level of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5. These countries are: Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

According to World Bank estimates in 2022, environmental degradation resulting from air pollution costs Egypt about 5% of annual gross national product, or about USD 2.4 billion a year.<\/p>\n

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The Government Puts Ras Gamila on the Negotiating Table<\/h3>\n

The Cairo government has formed a ministerial committee to select an international consultancy to manage, evaluate and promote the Ras Gamila development project in Sharm El-Sheikh, with the committee to take its decision next week. Initial estimates for selling the development rights to Ras Gamila range between two and three billion dollars.<\/p>\n

Earlier reports said the government is in talks with Saudi officials about acquiring the development rights to the Ras Gamila area, but the negotiations are still at an early stage. The area’s importance to the Riyadh government stems from its location opposite the Saudi city of NEOM, separated from it by the Strait of Tiran, and not far from the site of the proposed bridge linking NEOM with Sinai.<\/p>\n

Mervat Hataba, chair of the board of the Holding Company for Tourism and Hotels, affiliated with the public business sector, which owns a share of the Ras Gamila area, said in statements to the Jordanian newspaper Ad-Dustour that the area is offered for foreign and local investment, denying that Saudi Arabia had acquired it yet, and stressing that the investment cost of the area amounts to EGP 7 billion and may increase with construction studies.<\/p>\n

The holding company had announced in 2022 that the Ras Gamila land, covering 860,000 square metres, was offered for direct foreign or local investment. The area is wholly owned in partnership between El Montazah Tourism and Investment Company, one of the Holding Company for Tourism and Hotels’ companies, and EMAK Aqaba Company, affiliated with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.<\/p>\n

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Egypt’s Financing Programme on the IMF Agenda at the End of March<\/h3>\n

The IMF Executive Board has put Egypt’s USD 8 billion financing programme on its agenda for 29 March, paving the way for disbursing the first tranches of the programme, after the Fund agreed to raise the lending programme from three billion to eight billion dollars over four years, in addition to an additional loan of about USD 1.2 billion from the Fund’s environmental sustainability facility.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Mohamed Maait had confirmed that total expected financing for Egypt, including additional sources, after the agreement with the IMF stands at USD 20 billion.<\/p>\n

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USD 2.8 Billion in Investments in 9 Months in the Suez Canal Economic Zone<\/h3>\n

Walid Gamal El-Din, chairman of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone, revealed that total contracts in the industrial zones and ports from 1 July 2023 to 21 March 2024 reached 127 projects, with investment costs of about USD 2.8 billion. Of these, 61 projects received final approvals, with 49% foreign investment, against initial approval for 66 projects, with 39% foreign investment.<\/p>\n

Gamal El-Din added in his speech during his meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly that more than 22,000 direct and indirect jobs will become available once these projects are established and operating, noting that since January 2024, contracts have been signed with 37 projects with investment costs of about USD 894 million.<\/p>\n

The chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone continued: The period from 1 July 2023 to 21 March 2024 saw the establishment of 63 new companies, with 48.5% foreign capital, 20 of them since the start of last January alone.<\/p>\n

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Initial Indications: Allam Head of Egypt’s Lawyers<\/h3>\n

The committee responsible for the Egyptian Bar Association elections announced that the results of the elections held last Saturday will be announced at 9:30 pm today, Monday.<\/p>\n

Initial indications announced by the campaign of the current head and candidate Abdel Halim Allam confirm his victory for a new term ending in 2028. According to the campaign, he won 25,624 votes, while his rival, former Bar Association head Sameh Ashour, won 18,741 votes, a margin of nearly seven thousand votes in Allam’s favour.<\/p>\n

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Gameela Ismail Heads the Civil Movement’s Board of Trustees<\/h3>\n

The Civil Democratic Movement decided at its meeting yesterday evening, Sunday, at the Conservative Party headquarters in central Cairo, to choose Gameela Ismail, head of the Constitution Party, to chair the movement’s board of trustees for a period of four to six months.<\/p>\n

Medhat El-Zahed, head of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, had been nominated for the new post but declined, and the movement’s members chose Ismail. It was agreed to form a team including Gameela Ismail, Mohamed El-Nemr, Magdy Abdel Hamid and Talaat Khalil to draw up a vision for the Civil Movement’s bylaws and the way work is organised within the movement, regarding the mechanism for agreeing on the movement’s decisions, whether by vote or by consensus.<\/p>\n

The movement stressed that it is open to public figures and parties that agree with the Civil Movement’s vision as “the only opposition movement in Egypt”.<\/p>\n

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Collective Solidarity with the Suez Canal Clubs Workers’ Union Against the Ministry of Labour<\/h3>\n

A number of public figures, supporters, political parties and rights entities issued a statement in solidarity with the Suez Canal Clubs Workers’ Union against a campaign waged against it by the Ministry of Labour and executive bodies, aimed at liquidating the union, halting its activity and encroaching on the authority of its general assembly.<\/p>\n

The statement said this amounts to stripping the workers of the Suez Canal clubs of their right to organise and choose their representatives, in violation of the 2014 Egyptian Constitution, Trade Union Organisations Law No. 213 of 2017, and the international agreements Egypt has signed, especially Convention No. 98 of 1949 on the right to organise and collective bargaining and Convention No. 87 of 1948 on freedom of association and the right to organise.<\/p>\n

These encroachments, which the workers of the Suez Canal clubs have suffered since the union was founded in 2012, include interference in union elections and tightening the noose on the union’s board to prevent it from playing its role in defending workers and protecting their legitimate rights, according to the statement.<\/p>\n

According to the union’s workers, the latest of these violations came after a decision by the Minister of Labour and officials at the Suez Canal clubs to stop deducting union subscriptions from workers, in blatant violation of the constitution and the law, in addition to withholding the workers’ subscriptions that the administration had already deducted for the union in February 2024, which threatens the union’s ability to meet its financial obligations to others and obstructs its continued work.<\/p>\n

The signatories expressed full solidarity with and support for the workers of the Suez Canal clubs, their union, its board and the union’s elected head, Karam Abdel Halim, chosen by a decision of its general assembly on 10 August 2022, and for the general assembly’s procedures, which are legal, legitimate and in accordance with Ministry of Labour Decision No. 1061 of 8 September 2022. They also stressed their rejection of all forms of violation of the constitution and the law and of workers’ right to organise and choose their representatives.<\/p>\n

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The Security Council Adopts a Draft Resolution Calling for a Ceasefire in Gaza<\/h3>\n

The UN Security Council this evening, Monday, adopted a draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

The draft resolution was submitted by the elected members of the Security Council: Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Slovenia and Switzerland.<\/p>\n

The draft resolution received 14 votes in favour, while the United States abstained.<\/p>\n

According to Al-Qahera News, Russia and China last Friday used their veto in the Security Council to defeat a US draft resolution on Gaza that did not include any direct call for a ceasefire, but referred to supporting ongoing international efforts to secure a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Since the start of the aggression on Gaza on 7 October, Washington has vetoed three draft resolutions, two of which called for an immediate ceasefire.<\/p>\n

The occupation forces have continued their aggression on the Gaza Strip by land, sea and air since 7 October, killing 32,333 citizens, most of them children and women, and wounding 74,694 others, in addition to thousands missing under the rubble.<\/p>\n

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Guterres and Sisi Call for a Ceasefire in Gaza<\/h3>\n

A statement from the Presidency said President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres to stress the need to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the Strip, whether by land through the Rafah crossing or through airdrops, and to reach an immediate ceasefire.<\/p>\n

For his part, Guterres expressed his appreciation for Egypt’s regional role as a pivotal pillar of stability, praising Egyptian efforts to push for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. He referred to his visit to the Rafah crossing, praising in this context the huge Egyptian effort he witnessed in leading and managing the delivery of aid to the people of Gaza, despite the severe obstacles and difficulties facing that process, and reiterated the need for a humanitarian ceasefire so that aid can be brought in and distributed effectively to the people of the Strip.<\/p>\n

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From Gaza to Sudan, Women Confront Aggression: A Solidarity Conference at the Journalists’ Syndicate Tomorrow<\/h3>\n

The Freedoms Committee of the Journalists’ Syndicate is organising a solidarity conference titled “From Gaza to Sudan… Women Confront Aggression” tomorrow, Tuesday, at 8:30 pm in the Heikal Hall of the syndicate building. The conference includes testimonies from Palestinian lawyer and activist Fatima Ashour, Palestinian media professional Taghreed El-Amour and Palestinian journalist Siba Ismail; from Sudan, testimonies from Sudanese feminist activist Fahima Hashim and Sudanese lawyer Shaimaa Tag El-Sir; and from Egypt, Fatma Khafagy, representative of the Arab Feminist Network, according to the committee’s statement.<\/p>\n

The conference will feature recorded and written testimonies from wounded Palestinian women and a released female prisoner, as well as a video on the war crimes committed against women since 7 October. It is also planned to show broad solidarity with women in Sudan and the violations and assaults they face as a result of the war between the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces since April last year, 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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