Banks raise capital

TO MEET the requirements of the pending new unified banking bill, Egypt's six public sector banks are currently setting plans to increase their capital by LE4 billion.

The National Bank of Egypt, Egypt's largest public sector bank, is required to increase its capital by LE1.3 billion. Banque de Caire and Banque Misr need to increase their capital by LE800 million each, the Egyptian Arab Real Estate Bank (EARE) by LE700 million, the Industrial Development Bank of Egypt (IDBE) by LE300 million and the Bank of Alexandria by LE100 million.

The limited capital increase required by the Bank of Alexandria is due to its high capital adequacy ratio, which currently stands at 13 per cent, compared to the 10 per cent required by the Central Bank of Egypt.

While both the IDBE and the EARE have obtained a green light from their general assemblies, the other four banks are still waiting for the go-ahead by their investors.

Oil concerns

OPEC President Abdulla Bin Hamad Al- Attiyah said the oil cartel is ready to deal with any oil supply shortage that could be caused by a possible war in the region. "If there is a shortage of supply, OPEC will balance demand and supply," Al- Attiyah said at a conference held in Abu Dhabi recently to discuss the impact of a possible US-led strike against Iraq on world oil supplies and price stability.

Although Al-Attiyah dismissed the idea of an oil shortage, he acknowledged that prices were currently high because of the instability in the region, according to AFP.

Jordan, which imports all its oil from neighbouring Iraq, was gearing up this week to boost oil reserves to two-months worth of stocks, said the industry magazine Arab Oil and Gas.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali Al-Nuaimi pledged the kingdom, the world's largest oil exporter, would activate spare oil production capacity to make up for any loss in supply if war broke out.

US military sources warned that Baghdad has begun mining its strategic oil fields and is planning to set them ablaze in case a war breaks out, causing massive economic and environmental damage. Iraq has denied it would set any oil wells alight.

WTO meeting in Cairo

A MINI-MINISTERIAL World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting might be held in Egypt early next summer. Egypt, represented by Minister of Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros-Ghali, made the offer during the three-day informal WTO meeting that ended in Tokyo earlier this week. The mini-ministerial meeting would serve as another opportunity to iron out differences over agricultural and pharmaceutical issues, ahead of the ministerial meeting scheduled to be held in Cancun, Mexico in September. "Breaking the deadlock on medicine and achieving progress in the agricultural talks are crucial to the fate of the Doha round," WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi said at the start of the Tokyo meeting.

Delegates from 22 nations of the 145- member WTO could not agree to a framework for talks on agriculture. A proposal by Stuart Harbinson, chair of the WTO agricultural negotiations, to reduce tariffs by an average of 60 per cent in five years, cut agricultural subsidies and raise import quotas was not welcomed by delegates, particularly the European Union.

Representatives at the Tokyo meeting also failed to agree on how to make available to poor countries affordable drugs for public health threats. Drug patents and access to agricultural goods are among the thorniest issues of the Doha global trade negotiations launched in November 2001 in Qatar.

Wind for Oil?

THE MINISTRY of Electricity has embarked on a pioneering project to increase wind energy to 600 megawatts annually by 2010, thus saving some 520,000 tons of equivalent oil that can then be exported. Two stations to generate electricity using wind energy are to be built within the next few years in Zaafarana in the Red Sea, Minister of Electricity Hassan Younis said. Next March, a tender will be announced for Spanish companies to bid for building the first station. A number of international companies will be at a later date be bidding for the second station. The Spanish government has agreed to provide $70 million in funding for the first station -- 60 per cent of which is a soft loan at an interest rate of 0.03 per cent and the remaining 40 per cent a commercial loan to be reimbursed at an interest rate of five per cent.According to Younis, the station will produce 70 megawatts of electricity per year and is expected to save 60,000 tons of equivalent oil.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government has agreed in principle to provide $120 million to fund the second station, which is expected to produce 120 megawatts of electricity per year. The sum will be reimbursed over a 40-year period at an interest rate of 0.75 per cent.

IT buying made easy

THE "AFFORDABLE PC" initiative, launched earlier this year by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), was complemented this week by the launch of another initiative aimed at making software available at symbolic prices.

Dubbed "Software Advantage", the scheme was put forth by the E-Learning Publishers Union (ELPU). It enables purchasers of the Affordable PC to buy a software package at a fraction of its retail price. The software's cost is included in the PC's price, thus facilitating installment payment.

The E-Learning Publishers Union is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation whose members comprise a number of multimedia software developers and publishers in Egypt.

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 20 - 26 February 2003 (Issue No. 626)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/626/ec2.htm