This article first appeared in February’s print edition of Business Monthly. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming an indispensable tool powering (and changing) how governments work and offer services. “The transformative potential of AI is undeniable, with governments worldwide acknowledging its impact,” said Oxford Insights’ Government AI Readiness Index 2023 report published in December. “Governments are not only working to regulate AI and foster AI innovation, but also striving to integrate this technology into public services.” Egypt is a regional AI trailblazer, founding the National Council for Artificial Intelligence in November 2019 and publishing its AI strategy in July 2021.…
Author: Tamer Hafez
This article first appeared in February’s print edition of Business Monthly. The Russia-Ukraine war has put the spotlight on a growing global food security problem. “The conflict quickly sparked fears of a global food crisis,” said a book published in 2023 by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). “Food prices were already high in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and many countries were facing serious food insecurity.” The crisis comes amid worries that conventional agricultural practices are unsustainable. “In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the impact of conventional farming practices,” Emerging India Analytics, a…
As investors witness rising competition and fewer lucrative opportunities in developed and traditionally attractive emerging markets, such as those in South Asia, Africa is increasingly in the spotlight. In September, McKinsey Global Institute, a U.S.-based management consultancy, said, “With its population expected to nearly double to 2.5 billion people by 2050, [Africa] presents myriad opportunities for robust, inclusive growth that harnesses rich natural resources and abundant human potential.” However, Africa faces economic, structural, and foreign risks. An IMF paper titled “Managing Fiscal Risks in the Middle East and North Africa,” published in June, said, “When risks materialize, they often have…
For the past few years, Egypt has been in dire need of foreign currency inflows, leading the pound to officially lose almost half its value against the dollar from March 2022 to press time. However, EgCurrency, a digital platform reporting on black market rates for the pound against 18 foreign currencies, reported the rate at which dollars are bought and sold on the ground is around 73% higher than the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE). For local companies, that is unsustainable. In an Op-Ed published in Shorouk News in February 2022, Mohamed Youssef, a principal researcher at UAE-based TRENDS Research…
Amid Egypt’s ongoing foreign currency shortage, commercial banks are borrowing more dollars from abroad to finance local businesses that depend on imports. According to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), commercial banks’ net foreign asset deficit jumped from the equivalent of EGP 219 billion in June 2022 using the official exchange rate to EGP 529 billion a year later. Within three months of the news, credit rating agencies Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investor Services, and Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings downgraded some of Egypt’s most prominent banks. Those downgrades were expected, as all three agencies had a “negative” outlook for the sector since…
China’s nickname, “The World’s Factory,” says almost everything governments need to know about how the country sustains economic growth. “From 1992 to 2002, China implemented a series of very attractive incentives to attract foreign companies to its growing manufacturing sector,” said Blacksmith International, a management consultancy. Those incentives were compelling enough for some of the world’s biggest engineering industries, including Apple, Nike, L’Oreal, and Samsung Electronics, to build factories there. According to data aggregator Statistica, China raised its contribution to global GDP from 2.5% in 1980 to 18.44% in 2022. Egypt’s government also is working hard to promote manufacturing, notably engineering industries. Over…
Despite increasing calls from activists, private-sector narratives, and government efforts to use more renewable energy sources (sun, wind, hydropower, and geothermal) over fossil fuel, yet oil still powers most of the global economy. The Energy Institute, a global association, estimated that nearly 82% of the world still relied on fossil fuels as of 2022. Eco-friendly renewable sources accounted for 14.2%, with the rest coming from miscellaneous sources. For Egypt, forecasting oil prices in 2024 will be vital, as Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) data shows that more than a fifth of the nation’s total import bill in fiscal year 2022/2023…
Driving into the New Administrative Capital (NAC), it’s hard to miss the massive structures on the horizon comprising the government’s new headquarters and the business district with the Iconic Tower, Africa’s tallest building, at the center. A broader look shows swaths of desert separating those two complexes with mostly completed, lightly inhabited residential neighborhoods. They dot phase one’s 40,000 acres, which should house 6.5 million to 7 million residents. That bird’s-eye view highlights how much construction remains for the city to attract its targeted “18 [million] to 40 million people by 2050,” according to NAC’s website. The new city is…
The need to cultivate more crops using less natural resources to ensure food security is not new. “The technology and agricultural practices in the last 40 years have led to the degradation of productive land, large greenhouse gas emissions, and extensive water pollution,” said the UN in 2011. In 2023, food shortages have become a real threat for many countries, particularly in the MENA region, where more than 50% of food is imported, according to the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, a nonprofit think tank. “Food security [is] now a national security [issue] for most countries,” Ciara O’Brien of…
Egypt has long been a destination well suited to holiday goers. The country has the Mediterranean’s soft white sand beaches, the Red Sea’s aquatic life, history and culture spanning centuries from Alexandria in the far north to Aswan in the far south, and a reasonably cosmopolitan setting in major cities. That has boded well for the country in the post-COVID-19 travel craze (known as “revenge travel”). In the first half of 2023, government figures show hotel occupancy rates nationwide reached 80% compared to 65% the year before. Research by AmCham Egypt shows the high point was during the European spring…