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Headline
news
Dollar madness
 The dollar-pound
exchange rate is the hottest topic in the press these days, with
even government publications admitting that the black market
exchange rate has reached LE4.74 to the dollar and more.
The sharp increase -- from LE4.27 last week to its highest point at
nearly LE5.00 on Wednesday morning -- over the span of a week was
the result of a panic, mainly amongst importers, to gather up enough
cash to pay their foreign suppliers for goods, once banks stopped
providing dollars at the regular exchange rate last week.
Those who followed the front page headlines in opposition paper Al-Wafd
over the span of the week were shocked to read of jumps that went
from LE4.45 to LE4.65 to LE4.95 in just a few days. By Wednesday,
however, even Al-Wafd had cooled down a bit, saying the dollar was
now being bought on the black market for LE4.80, and was set to go
down to more normal levels in the next few days as investors managed
to obtain the dollars they needed at the present time, and the
central bank was considering policy changes that would make it
easier for the banks to go back to providing dollars at the regular
exchange rate.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Ragab and Mustafa Hussein's back page cartoon in
Al-Akhbar on Wednesday pokes fun at the situation, featuring a guy
asking Prime Minister Atef Ebeid if there's really an economic
crisis... "Haqiqi fi azma iqtisadiya?" The Prime Minister
can't hear what he's saying. "Bit qul ayy? Han niftar fatta bil
molokhiya?" "What's that you're saying? That we're going
to break our fast with fatta and molokhia?"
(November 28, 2001)
Sports
Bid
to host Africa Cup
Egypt is submitting its bid this week to the African
soccer federation in an attempt to host the 2006 African Soccer Cup,
which will be played in the lead up to the World Cup tournament set
to take place in Germany that same year. Amongst the credentials
included in the bid, report the papers, are details on the country's
preparedness in terms of stadiums, sponsorships, TV broadcast
rights, hotels, touristic activities, and a communications network.
(November 28, 2001)
Television
On-air
jealousy
Al-Wafd seems rather upset that MBC presenter George
Kordahy, the gentleman who hosts the popular Arabic version of the
global game show, "Who wants to be a millionaire", is
being offered sponsorship deals right, left and center. The paper
claims Kordahy has agreed to be a spokesman for one of the mobile
phone companies in Egypt for a whopping LE5 million... "We look
forward to Egyptian announcers getting the same deals," the
paper cynically says...
(November 28, 2001)
Economy
Family
business
The first-ever conference for family-owned and operated businesses
in the Arab world is set to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on
15-16 January 2002. According to the conference organizers, some 70
per cent of all Arab businesses are family-owned. The conference
purports to discuss the ways and means by which such businesses can
better deal with -- and help countries work their way out of --
critical economic problems.
(November 28, 2001)
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