NUCA offers land to foreign investors for purchases in US dollars

Newsletter

02 Jan 2023

NUCA offers land to foreign investors for purchases in US dollars

NUCA offers land to foreign investors for purchases in US dollars. The Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, Assem El-Gazzar, announced the details of new measures allowing companies outside Egypt to buy land in new cities and pay in US dollars. The new measures allow companies co-founded by a foreign partner to apply for the allocation of land offered by the New Urban Communities Authorities (NUCA) based on a set of regulations. The companies only could apply for the new land allocation mechanism. (Al Mal)

El-Sisi approves State Property Document.
The Egyptian Cabinet announced that President Abel Fattah El-Sisi approved the State Property Document (SPD). Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that the SPD aimed to boost the levels of economic growth rate by increasing the investment rate to a range between 25% and 30%, to raise the economic growth rate to between 7% and 9%. According to this policy, the state would focus on injecting investments into key sectors that were unattractive to the private sector. (Hapi Journal)
CBE issues new rules for bank statements.
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) issued new rules regulating reporting of bank statements by the banking sector. The CBE mandates banks to submit customer bank statements every three months with proof of delivery. The new rules stipulate that banks should put in place policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of customer bank statements through all phases of preparation. On another note, the CBE’s new rules stipulate that customers shall approve or disapprove of the content of bank statements within 30 days of the notification date, or their approval would be assumed. (Al Mal)
State-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company has launched an international oil and gas tender for 12 exploration blocks in the Mediterranean and Nile Delta.
The tender, which concludes on 30 April, 2023 at 12pm, includes six onshore blocks and another six offshore blocks. The tender will take place on the Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUG) digital platform, which provides E&P companies geological data for exploration and production activity. Egypt is doubling down on its oil and gas industry, as well as rationing domestic gas consumption, as part of its efforts to bring to an end a shortage of foreign currency. (Hapi Journal)
Egypt’s natural gas exports rose 14% y-o-y to reach 8 million tons in 2022, bringing in 8.4 billion USD.
Revenues from our natgas exports rose 171% y-o-y on the back of elevated global prices. The Supply Ministry is set to announce today its indicative price list for some 10 strategic commodities. The ministry had set up a committee earlier this month to determine the “fair price” of several food items deemed to be strategic commodities, in a bid to regulate market pricing amid soaring inflation. (Al Mal)
The FRA is easing credit limits for homebuyers.
The Financial Regulatory Authority has loosened income requirements for mortgage lenders in a move designed to boost lending and help people purchase homes amid rising house prices. The regulator said that it had raised the income / installment ratio to 50% from 35-40% previously, allowing borrowers to take on a greater amount of debt as a proportion of their income. Homebuyers are now eligible for mortgages that will see them pay up to 50% of their monthly income in installments The rules previously capped the monthly installments at 35% for low-income individuals and 40% for middle-income borrowers.
The FRA said that the decision was taken in response to “various economic variables,” especially the soaring rate of inflation.
The depreciation of the EGP against the greenback this year has sent urban inflation to five-year highs, which has also caused house prices to rise. The move comes as the central bank stops subsidizing low-interest loans for homebuyers, and passes responsibility to the Housing Ministry as part of the recent loan agreement with the IMF. It is unclear whether the Housing Ministry will keep the two subsidized mortgage initiatives going in their current forms. (Al Mal)
Egypt's TCI Sanmar Chemicals plans 15 million investment in 2023.
TCI Sanmar Chemicals, a 100 percent subsidiary of India’s Sanmar Group, is planning to invest 15 million USD in Egypt in 2023 for expanding its production capacity for calcium chloride and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by implementing four new production lines with a total capacity of 225,000 tons per year. TCI Sanmar had recently signed an MOU with the Saudi Ministry of Investment to secure supply of vinyl chloride, which is essential raw material for ethylene PVC production. The company is also planning to set up a loading station (terminal) in El-Gamil area in Port Said with an initial investment of 160 million USD to import ethylene and export its products. (Arab Finance)
Egypt amends import facilities for workers abroad to make it easier.
The Egyptian Ministry of Finance announced on Tuesday the start of the application of facilities to import cars of workers abroad free of import duties, after amending a number of conditions of the initiative, which was first announced in October, with the aim of increasing the dollar revenue of the state. he Ministry of Finance stated that it had abolished the requirement to deposit the amount to be paid at least three months before the transfer - which was included in the terms of the initiative in October - provided that it is sufficient to submit a bank statement for the six months preceding the date of transfer indicating the deposit, withdrawal and transfer movements. (Zawya)
Egypt releases goods stuck at ports to control price spirals.
Cabinet spokesman Nader Saad revealed that between 1 December and 23 December 2022, the Egyptian government released goods from ports valued about 5 billion USD (123 billion EGP), out of a total of 14 billion USD (346 billion EGP) worth of goods stuck at ports. As of 25 December, the value of the remaining commodities stranded at ports was estimated to be over 9.5 billion USD (235 billion EGP).
The CBE cancels finally the LCs.
For months, the Central Bank of Egypt has announced several measures to curb demand for dollars, while importers have complained of a backlog of goods at ports since the introduction of the documentary credit system in February and allowing the acceptance of collection documents to carry out all import operations. In the documentary credit system, the relationship is between the importer's bank and the exporter's bank, and the importer is obliged to cover the value of the imported shipment in advance, and its cost is higher, and it takes longer. As for the collection documents, the transaction is between the importer and the exporter directly, and the bank is just an intermediary, and does not require payment of the value of the shipment in advance, and its cost is much lower. (CBE)