Interest rates on hold
The central bank has kept benchmark interest rates steady for a second month running, saying that while upside risks to inflation had decreased, prices remained elevated. The bank, which ended a nine-month cycle of interest rate rises in November, kept its rates at 11.5 percent for deposits and 13.5 percent for lending. Urban consumer prices, the inflation figure the bank says it most closely watches, dipped to 20.3 percent in the year to November from a peak of 23.6 percent in August as global food and commodity prices retreated. It said expected falls in inflation in the upcoming months would give more room to maneuver to encourage growth.
Clearing the mines
A plan to clear the North Coast area from the mines planted during World War II has been prepared by the Ministry of Economic Cooperation jointly with the Economic Development Ministry. The project costs EGP60 billion and should take some 20 years to complete. The government will contribute 33 per cent of the funds required, the private sector 48 per cent, while the remaining 19 per cent will be offered by direct foreign investments and foreign contributions. An Italian firm was contacted to provide Egypt with 250 mine detectors. Germany, Britain, the United States and China have already helped Egypt in its de-mining efforts.
Year of Egyptian-Argentine agriculture
Egypt and Argentina have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the domains of fishing, fisheries and technical training. The deal was considered by both sides to lay down the basis for much broader cooperation in the future. Egyptian Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza said that 2009 would be named the year of Egyptian-Argentine cooperation in the agriculture domain.
Sharing codes
The national carrier EgyptAir has reached an agreement with United Airlines on a code-sharing alliance that will go into effect next summer. United will place its code on EgyptAir flights to Cairo from New York Kennedy Airport and London’s Heathrow Airport, while EgyptAir will attach its code to United flights from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco, and flights linking London Heathrow with Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington.
Smuggling animal mummies
An Australian teacher who allegedly stuffed his luggage with 2,000-year old animal mummies and religious figurines wrapped as gifts was arrested last week and charged with smuggling antiquities. The 61-year-old teacher was heading to Thailand when a security official became suspicious of the wrapped figurines that were placed amid souvenir ceramic pots in his suitcase. When security officials opened the case, they found two mummies of a cat and an ibis, a long-beaked bird, both dating back to 300BC. The confiscated collection also included 19 figurines of the revered ancient Egyptian gods of Horus and Thoth, wrapped as gifts. The man was arrested and has been charged with smuggling antiquities, which can carry a penalty of as much as 15 years.
…and ammunition
The same day last week another traveler was stopped in Cairo Airport with 56 cartridges, 20 pieces of live ammunition and an old bayonet that dates back to World War II. The Canadian passenger, who was heading to Switzerland, was set free after the materials were confiscated. The 26-year old teacher told the authorities he had picked up the ammunition near the coast town of Alamein, the site of one of the most decisive battles in World War II. He said he was unaware that transporting the ammunition would be illegal.