Remittances from Egyptian expats increased 13% year on year

Newsletter

18 Aug 2021

For our hottest news of the day, Remittances from Egyptian expats increased 13% year on year during the period starting July 2020 until May 2021 as global economic activity gradually recovers from the effects of the lockdown imposed due to the covid-19 virus. Remittances from Egyptian workers abroad recorded 28.5 billion USD for the first 11 months of the fiscal year with a 45.2% increase year on year in May 2021 to reach 2.6 billion USD compared to 1.8 billion in May 2020.

Second, Russia decides to triple weekly flights to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh to 15 flights starting from August 27th, 2021.
Hurghada Airport last week witnessed the first Russian inbound flight to Egypt onboard 300 passengers signaling the return of air traffic between the 2 countries after a six-year flight halt.
Third, Alex Bank has signed a cooperation protocol with the Egyptian Countryside Development Company (ECDC) as part of the bank’s support for agricultural activities in Egypt.
As part of the protocol, Alex Bank will provide financing solutions to agricultural businesses with the agricultural sector contributing to about 11% of Egypt’s GDP.
On another note, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announces it has provided a loan worth 50 million USD to Qatar National Bank Alahli (QNB Al Ahli) to support small businesses and green investments in Egypt.
QNB Al Ahli will boost the EBRD’s financing to private sub-borrowers, including individual households and SMEs, operating in the residential, agribusiness, industrial, commercial, and service sectors, who are developing green, energy efficiency, water efficiency, renewable energy, and resource efficiency projects. EBRD has invested over 7.7 billion EUR in 132 projects across Egypt since the beginning of its operations there in 2012.
Moving on to the investment coverage, Egypt’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA) has injected EGP 2.8 bn into 87,700 small and micro-projects in H1-2021,
creating about 146,500 job opportunities 36% of the total funding was directed towards people in the 30-40 age group with 43% located in upper Egypt. MSMEDA is working to provide all aspects of support to small enterprises to encourage citizens to engage in self-employment.
Equally important, a subsidiary of Raya Holding, plans to securitize 500 million EGP from its consumer finance portfolio before the end of 2021.
Raya Holding issued securitized bonds worth 590 million EGP last May from the portfolio of 3 subsidiaries namely Aman For Financial Services, Aman for Microfinance, and Raya for Electronics.
On the same token, Banque Misr signs a six-term loan agreement valued at EGP 800 million with Arabia Holding for Urban development.
Under the agreement, Arabia Holding will secure the loan to finance the first and second phases of the Sun Capital project, spanning 557 acres in the Sixth of October city.
With regards to companies’ coverage, El Sewedy Electric’s sales revenue jumps to 26 billion EGP in the first half of 2021 compared to 20.1 billion EGP in H1 2020 along with a reported net income of 1.7 billion EGP in H1 2021 increasing from 250 million in H1 2020.
Ahmed El Sewedy, the company’s CEO, said the strong performance in H1 2021 was supported by the growth in the cables segment which represents around 49% of total revenue. El Sewedy Group operates in 5 main segments; Wires and Cables, Project Development, Electrical Transformers, Electrical Meters, and Electrical Activities. Moreover, the Group owns more than 30 industrial facilities around the globe and exports its products to around 110 countries.