Egypt

24 Jan 2022; MEMO: Egyptians are crowding into banks after rumours spread that the central bank will float the Egyptian pound again.

In 2016 Egypt floated its currency in a move the central bank said was part of a list of reforms to strengthen the economy in exchange for a $12 billion IMF loan.

As part of the programme Cairo was expected to devalue the pound and unpeg its currency from the dollar.

CAIRO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on Saturday in the western Afghan city of Herat, it said in a post on Telegram on Sunday.

At least six people were killed when a blast ripped through a minivan in the city, officials said. Since the Taliban took over in August, a series of blasts and attacks, some claimed by Islamic State, have taken place across Afghanistan.

CAIRO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen denied targeting a detention centre in Yemen's Saada province, saying the facility hit was not a site restricted from strikes, the Saudi official news agency SPA reported on Saturday.

A Reuters witness said several people, including African migrants, died in the Friday attack that reportedly killed at least 60 people.

CAIRO (AP) — The death toll from a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that hit a prison run by Yemen’s Houthi rebels climbed to at least 82 detainees, the rebels and an aid group said Saturday.

Internet access in the Arab world’s poorest country meanwhile remained largely down as the coalition continued airstrikes on the capital of Sanaa and elsewhere.

CAIRO, Jan 21 (NNN-MENA) – Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, and his visiting South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, agreed yesterday, on the importance of boosting joint cooperation to support Egypt’s vision, the Presidency office of Egypt said, in a statement.

This is the first visit by a South Korean president in 16 years, according to Bassam Rady, spokesperson of Egypt’s presidency.

Moon’s visit to Egypt, which will last until today, Jan 21, is part of his regional tour that also includes the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

20 Jan 2022; MEMO: Ramy Shaath, an activist who spent two and a half years imprisoned, has described Egypt under President Abdel Fattah el Sisi as a "banana republic," Monte Carlo International reported on Wednesday.

Shaath was freed on 6 January after he was forced to renounce his Egyptian nationality.

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s president on Tuesday raised the minimum monthly wage to about $172, a move meant to ease the burdens of Egyptians hurt by painful austerity measures in recent years.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi announced in a statement that the minimum monthly wage in the country would be 2,700 Egyptian pounds ($171.5) — a 12.5% increase from the current 2,400 Egyptian pounds ($152.5).

18 Jan 2022; MEMO: Egypt borrowed $10.3 bn from bilateral and multilateral lenders in 2021; the Ministry International Cooperation said in an annual report published on Sunday.

According to the report, most of the funding or $8.7 billion went to the public sector, while the remaining $1.6 billion went to private sector initiatives.

CAIRO (AP) — A senior U.N. official said she is pushing for Libya to hold elections by June after the county missed a December deadline to elect its first president since the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Stephanie Williams, the U.N.’s special adviser on Libya, told The Associated Press late Sunday that it is still “very reasonable and possible” for the country’s 2.8 million voters to cast their ballots by June in line with the U.N.-brokered 2020 roadmap.

16 Jan 2022; MEMO: A project to expand parts of the Suez Canal is expected to be completed after two years of work in July 2023, the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said on Sunday, reported Reuters.

The SCA announced accelerated plans to extend a second channel of the canal and to enlarge an existing channel after the Ever Given container ship ran aground and blocked the waterway for six days last year.