WATANI International
9 August 2009
Interest rates down
The Central Bank of Egypt has decided to cut its key interest rates by 50 basis points. The lending rate was cut to 10 per cent, the deposit rate to 8.5 per cent and the discount rate to 8.5 per cent. This is the fifth time this year the bank cuts interest rates.
New discoveries
The United Arab Emirates-based Dana Gas has said that it had made two gas finds in Egypt with reserves totalling an estimated 76 billion cubic feet. The finds were at the Sharabas-1 and Sama-1 wells in the Nile Delta region but the company gave no specific date for the start of commercial production from the wells. Dana Gas, which relies on Egypt for the bulk of its income, said last year that it planned to invest about USD500 million in Egypt and Iraq’s Kurdish region in 2009 to boost natural gas output.
French and American wheat
Egypt bought a total of 295,000 tons of French and U.S. wheat in a tender last week. Some 240,000 tons of French wheat cost USD181.8 per ton and 55,000 tons of U.S. soft red winter wheat cost USD177.89 per ton. The wheat was purchased for shipment on 16 to 31 August and quoted cost minus freight.
Through headsets
Beginning next November visitors to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, Cairo, will be listening to their guides explain along the displayed antiquities through closed audio systems. In a statement, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said that the decision was taken in order to put an end to the chaotic noise pollution of the interfering voices of various guides explaining the displays—frequently in different languages—to their tourist groups at the same time. The new routine has been implemented on a test basis this month, but will be mandatory starting next November.
Music and books at Qaitbay
The activities of the eighth round of the Qaitbay Music and Singing Festival wrapped up last weekend. The festival presented 27 free shows, 15 held in Qaitbay Citadel and 12 in Shallalat Gardens, which were attended by more than 100,000 viewers. Qaitbay Citadel is hosting the fourth session of Alexandria Book Fair which opened last Thursday. Some 80 publishers from Egypt and the Arab World are participating, with Yemen as guest of honour.
Pharaonic kitchen
At the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Paris last month, Egypt won the award for Best in the World for Culinary History with the book ++Ancient Egyptian Recipes++ written by Magda Mehdawy and Amr Hussein, and revised and introduced by Abdel-Halim Nour Eddin. The English translation of the book has already been prepared to offer foreign rights. The book was the outcome of a project presented by the authors to the Investment Ministry to collect and document Egyptian food heritage.
Baby croc on flight
An official at Cairo airport last weekend said a foot-long baby crocodile wriggled out of a passenger’s hand luggage and caused panic on a flight from the United Arab Emirates. A crew member on the EgyptAir flight from Abu Dhabi rounded up the wayward reptile and calmed passengers. The airport security official says the animal was seized and given to the Cairo Zoo. Transporting exotic animals in and out of Egypt is illegal, and none of the passengers on the Friday 31 July flight claimed ownership of the baby croc.