Summary: A report from the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies on Egypt’s labor force setup. Egypt’s attempts to keep GDP growth rates positive since the January 2011 revolution, the July 2013 uprising, the first float of the pound at the end of 2016, and the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the labor market. “Over the past decade, the Egyptian economy has undergone significant negative structural shifts, skewing job creation toward lower productivity sectors,” a December report from the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES) said. “COVID-19 has further revealed Egypt’s labor market bottlenecks, vulnerabilities and segmentation.” Local and foreign investors starting…
Author: Rania Hassan
Since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, Egypt has seen rapid price jumps across the board. Global commodity prices, inflation, currency exchange rates and interest rates are at all-time highs. That invariably affects housing prices. Global Property Guide, a real estate data curation portal, found real estate prices in Egypt (discounting inflation) rose by nearly 58% between January 2022 and 2023 — adjusted for inflation, the increase was almost 34%. A significant portion of those increases is due to more expensive building materials. Published research from the Faculty of Engineering in Mansoura estimated 60% to 70%…
Egypt’s government has ambitions to significantly increase eco-friendly (green) investments. Hala El-Said, the minister of planning and economic development, announced plans for government-led green projects to account for 30% of all state projects by 2030. The government also is talking up incentives for private sector eco-friendly projects. Egypt has most of the necessary resources and political will to realize its green goals. Andrew Forrest, executive chairman of Fortescue Future Industries, a green energy company, told fDi Intelligences, a specialized portal, in October, “Egypt is on the way to becoming a global powerhouse in the green energy value chain.” Supporting those…
With uncertain global economic forecasts, employees increasingly seek to improve their prospects of moving to better jobs or at least keeping their current ones. In January, WellRight, a provider of wellness programs to companies, said in its blog: “In 2023, a crucial must-have for candidates and employees alike will be the freedom to explore career advancement opportunities as the job market evolves.” That means seizing all opportunities to improve their skill sets and knowledge. A 2021 Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report found 65% of workers were spending more time than ever learning skills that can translate to various opportunities. Attaining…
Currency exchange rates, lending and GDP growth prospects worldwide are affected by what the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) decides during the eight times it meets annually to determine interest rates. “Interest rates in the U.S. economy … influence interest rates throughout the global economy as a whole,” said Brian O’Connell, a contributor to Forbes, in February. “The [Fed’s] mission is to keep the U.S. economy humming — not too hot, not too cold, but just right.” Interest rates in the United States increased from 0.5% in January 2022 to 4.5% by the end of the year to combat inflation, which…
Today’s managers and business leaders face unprecedented challenges in maintaining a cohesive and motivated workforce. Janet Dell, president and CEO of Freeman Co., an event organization business, said in a LinkedIn blog that “for the first time in history” there are as many as five generations in the workforce, from traditionalists born before 1945 to Generation Z born from 2001 onward. That means the potential for generational friction is extraordinary. “Work habits, social values, communication styles and even the choice of emojis in messages can create a chasm among employees of different ages,” Maurice Harary, co-founder and CEO of The…
With a vision to double Egypt’s livable area to house a fast-growing population, the government is building new cities and promoting them to private developers. The New Urban Communities Authority lists eight new cities as its “most important” projects. The flagship is the New Administrative Capital. Others include New Alamein overlooking the Mediterranean, East Port Said, New Toushka and New Luxor. However, Egypt faces tough competition from African countries. A report from Knight Frank, a real estate consultancy, titled “The Africa Report 2022/2023,” says the continent is witnessing a real estate resurgence. “We are optimistic about the fortunes of the…
Be it smartphones, automobiles, computers, laptops, smartwatches or white goods connected to the internet, artificial intelligence (AI) is all around. “AI touches almost every aspect of our lives,” said a 2017 PwC report titled Sizing the prize: What’s the real value of AI for your business and how can you capitalize. “And it’s only just getting started.” Companies should increasingly rely on it to improve their operations if they want to compete against established names at home and abroad. “While some markets, sectors and individual businesses are more advanced than others, AI is still at a very early stage of…
This year has been a tiring one for companies in Egypt. Interest rates went from 8.25% to 13.25%, and the pound devalued twice from EGP 16 to the dollar in January to EGP 24.5 at press time. Meanwhile, bottlenecked global supply chains and the war in Ukraine have fueled global inflation as friction increases between the United States and China over trade and Taiwan. According to the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risks Report published in July: “We have entered an era that will increasingly be defined by risk.” In today’s world, the nature of risks can be economic, environmental,…
At the conclusion of last year’s U.N. Conference of the Parties (COP26), Alok Sharma, then COP president, praised the agreements reached. However, he stressed the next COP (COP27) must build on that work. “The Glasgow Climate Pact … emphasizes the need to act. It sets a clear way forward on the Global Goal on Adaptation and urges developed countries to at least double their collective climate finance for adaptation by 2025.” During that closing speech, Sharma stressed that a “gulf remains between short-term targets and what is needed” to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above…