EGYPT'S ECONOMY: December 7 PRESS ROUND-UP

UNCLAS CAIRO 002259

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ELA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EINV EFIN ETRD PGOV EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT'S ECONOMY: December 7 PRESS ROUND-UP


1. (U) The following are notable economic news stories that appeared
over the past week in the Egyptian press:

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Stock Market Falls, Then Recovers
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2. (U) The Egyptian stock market plummeted 8%, the third largest
single day loss in the market's history, on November 30 following
the news of the Dubai debt crisis. However, the market quickly
recovered and closed the week on December 3 fractionally higher.
Many Egyptian analysts agreed that the Dubai crisis would not have a
long-term negative impact on the Egyptian economy. Samir Radwan,
Managing Director of the Cairo-based Economic Research Forum,
expressed his doubt that the crisis would negatively impact Egyptian
labor in the Gulf, and suggested that Egypt's banking system would
be safe from the Dubai fallout (Al Ahram, Al Mal, Al Masry Al Youm,
11/30/2009, 12/1/2009, 12/3/09).

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Egypt Agrees to Tariff Pact at WTO Conference
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3. (U) Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid attended
the (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Geneva, where he was chosen vice
president due to his role as a coordinator for the African
countries. On the sidelines of the conference, Rachid agreed to a
deal with twenty-one other developing countries, including India and
Brazil, to cut tariffs on trade between them. Rachid gave a speech
to the conference calling for trade liberalization, rather than
self-sufficiency, to ensure food security. Rachid also called for
the Doha Round to be concluded by the end of 2010 in order to boost
the competitiveness of developing markets (Al Ahram, Al Shorouk,
12/1/2009, 12/2/2009, 12/3/2009).

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New Agreement Signed between Agadir Members
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4. (U) A new agreement was signed between the Agadir members (Egypt,
Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan) on December 1, 2009. The agreement
calls for mutual recognition of exports standards between the member
countries, in order to enhance and facilitate the trade relations
between the countries (Al Shorouk, 12/2/2009).

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Large Annual Increase in Car Sales
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5. (U) Khaled Al Huseiny, of the Automotive Marketing Information
Council, announced that overall car sales were 6.3 percent higher in
October 2009, compared to October 2008 sales data. Sales of
passenger cars led the way with a 25 percent annual increase, which
analysts attributed to the significant fall in car sales during the
onset of the global financial crisis last year (Al Mal, 12/2/09).

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Egyptian Investment Corporation for Africa
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6. (U) Mona Amer, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that
the first Egyptian corporation for investment in Africa will be
established in the next few weeks. According to Amer, the
corporation will focus on making investments in Nile Basin
countries, beginning with Ethiopia (Al Ahram, Al Masry Al Youm,
12/3/09).

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