Author: Tamer Hafez

The 1.5°C climate target of the Paris Agreement, which calls for countries to take concerted action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming, will require commitment from governments and the private sector to ensure a just green transition. Realizing the importance of that goal and how investments are necessary to reach it, Egypt hosted the first-ever U.S GreenTech Business Mission on May 14-17, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (AmCham Egypt,) the U.S Chamber of Commerce and the Office of the U.S Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. The business mission included American investors, policymakers, eco-friendly…

Egypt’s diverse economy and young population have always driven its innovation landscape. That is evident as the country consistently ranked among the top two destinations for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the Middle East and Africa.  The advent of the pandemic further opened up such opportunities, as lockdowns meant that people needed new innovative solutions to accommodate their new routines.   International M&A investors are seeing massive opportunities in such a boom. For example, Egypt’s SWVL listing on the NASDAQ in July made it the region’s second startup valued at over $1 billion, showing how far those investors could take lucrative…

Like most emerging markets, Egypt will always target a net inflow of dollars from exports, portfolio investors, and foreign direct investment (FDI). Accordingly, developing countries have always relied on the United States to keep interest rates low. “Markets spent most of 2021 trading on assurances from … the U.S. Federal Reserve [that] monetary policy would continue to be in uber stimulus mode,” wrote Mohamed El-Erian, president of Queen’s College, in a Financial Times blog in January. However, the Federal Reserve (Fed) plans to reverse that strategy to ease U.S. inflation, which hit a 40-year high in November. “Economic developments and…

Remote work has many advantages, including no commuting and flexible work hours. Organizations that used to work “nine-to-five” now operate all day, given that employees often work when they choose and sometimes are in different time zones. For executives and managers, that means increasingly responding to work needs nearly 24/7. Yet, it hasn’t translated into achieving targets faster or increasing productivity. Work-from-home trends have shown a decline in employee productivity and extra hours worked to compensate, said Michael Gibbs, a professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, last year after tracking 10,000 employees over 17 months. He…

Enjoying freshwater from the Nile, Egypt’s agriculture strategy has long focused on high-value, high-profit exportable produce, rather than wheat and other grains. The country was the world’s biggest exporter of oranges in 2020, second-largest supplier of figs, third-largest exporter of dried onions and fifth-largest exporter of raw potatoes, according to CAPMAS. Yet, it is the world’s largest importer of wheat and the fifth largest of sunflower oil, based on U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) figures. The war between Russia and Ukraine, which combined supply Egypt with 85% of its wheat and are major suppliers of other commodities, has accelerated the…

As this year’s UN Climate Change Conference of Parties event in Sharm El-Sheikh approaches, Egypt wants to display leadership in combating climate change and lowering emissions in Africa. “The most important action or activity that everybody should work on diligently is CCUS [carbon capture usage and storage]. It’s very important … for [combating] climate change,” Tarek El Molla, minister of petroleum and mineral resources, told CNBC in November. The United States is the undisputed global leader in developing and implementing carbon capture projects. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), as of November, the U.S. had more projects using carbon…

For most companies around the world, selling goods and services via the internet is an attractive business model. For one, digital transformation can ensure a company’s long-term survival by accessing the global market at minimal cost, and most governments don’t have the resources or laws to tax online revenue. COVID-19’s acceleration of the digital economy brought the taxation problem into the spotlight. “If there were any lingering doubts about the necessity of digital transformation for business longevity, the coronavirus has silenced them,” said a May report by the law firm BDO United States. “With rare exceptions, operating digitally is the…

A critical missing piece of Egypt’s trade relationship with the United States is an umbrella free trade agreement. The door is open just a little bit, with a one-way limited Qualified Industrial Zones deal for Egyptian exports and a tiny amount of Egyptian goods qualifying for the U.S.’ Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. Now, the rise of digitally-enabled trade, such as cross-border e-commerce, is an opportunity for both countries to align their trade policies and regulations. “A digital trade pact with the [United States] could unleash the potential of what is already a fast-growing sector,” Andreyka Natalegawa, a research…

The idea that people and companies must only buy eco-friendly products or benefit from services with a near-zero carbon footprint to avert climate disaster is still a novel concept in most countries. For example, electric vehicle (EV) sales accounted for only 9% of global car sales last year, said the International Energy Agency (IEA) in January. However, demand for clean energy is rising. In 2019, EVs accounted for 2.5% of global car sales. “All the net growth in global car sales in 2021 came from electric cars,” noted Leonardo Paoli, clean energy technologies analyst at the IEA, in a January…

The government’s efforts to digitally transform Egypt’s economy should take a significant step forward with the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (NAIS). It aims to “create promising opportunities for laying the foundation for a national economy … based on emerging technologies,” said President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in the NAIS document’s forward section. The strategy’s focus is to “indigenize the AI industry and strengthen Egypt’s leading role at the regional level to become an active global player in the field.” To that end, Sisi stressed the importance of promoting “effective partnerships between the government and the private sector.” The NAIS is part…