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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 16 - 22 November 2000 Issue No.508 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 16 - 22 November 2000 Issue No.508
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Highlights
* FIVE public enterprise engineering companies worth ap-roximately LE700 million are due to be privatised and offered to an anchor investor. The flotation will begin next December, said Public Enterprise Minister Mukhtar Khattab.
The companies are the Transport and Engineering Company, Ni-za for Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Al-Nasr for Rubber Tyres, the Nozha Factory owned by the Alexandria Company for Metallurgical Products and the General Springs Manufacturing and Transport Egypt Company (Yayat Misr Co).* UNPACKED sugar will be sold to the public at 130 piastres a kilogramme starting this week, according to the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade. Instructions have been dispatched to state-owned wholesale companies to supply retailers with unpacked sugar at 120 piastres per kilogramme, instead of 125 piastres. The discount aims at increasing supply at affordable prices before the Holy month of Ramadan, when sugar consumption increases. Prices had reached LE2.50 per kilo in grocery shops and supermarkets.
* USAID funds of $695 million will be disbursed to Egypt in the year 2001. The bulk of the sum will be directed to the Commodity Import Programme (CIP), which finances US exports to the private sector. The rest will fund development projects, according to Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ahmed El-Darsh, who met last week with the new USAID director, Willard Pearson. A sum of $735 million was allotted to USAID projects this year.
* THE CENTRAL Bank of Egypt has issued a new 100 pound note whose features will ensure greater security against forgery. The 16.5 by 7 centimetre note includes, on the left side, a representation of the mask of Tut-Ankh-Amun, which can be seen when the bill is held against the light. The centre illustration is that of the Sultan Hassan Mosque. On the right hand side, is a magnetic tape on which LE100 is repeated successively. At the top of the bill, there is a similar tape, in addition to other features -- undiscernible by the naked eye -- by which the authenticity of the note may be verified.
* ALEXANDRIA and Dekheila, the country's two oldest Mediterranean ports, will undergo renovation and restructuring at the beginning of 2001, according to Transport and Communications Minister Ibrahim El-Demeiri. A three-year plan is being worked out for their management, which will be independent of state funds. Part of the government's plan to upgrade the national infrastructure for trade and export, the two ports are expected to handle over 100 million tons of cargo annually over the next five years.
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