Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Edmund Bower

Saudi Arabia editor

Edmund Bower has reported from the Middle East since 2014. He has dispatched from Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. Before joining AGBI he worked for The Times, The Economist, The Guardian and other outlets

Edmund Bower
Lebanon EU aid

Lebanon to receive $1bn in financial aid from the EU

A financial aid package for Lebanon from the EU valued at more than $1 billion was announced on Thursday by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.  The money, most of which will be grants, will be made available over the next three years. Some will go towards helping to control the flow of […]

The 2020 explosion caused $15bn of damage and reduced the port's capacity

Beirut bids to reclaim its regional shipping crown

The ruined grain silos that absorbed much of the Beirut Port blast still stand as a monument to Lebanon’s misery during the past four years.  Much of the debris, scattered across the old port and lying on the seabed, remains unmoved from where it fell on 4 August 2020, when 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate […]

A square in Cairo

‘Worst is behind us’ in Egypt’s black market dollar war says BMI

The Egyptian government’s priority for 2024 should be to keep the gap between the official and parallel exchange rates for Egypt’s pound and the US dollar as narrow as possible, says BMI Research. In a webinar on Tuesday BMI, a Fitch Group firm specialised in country risk, said that “the worst is behind us” in […]

Egypt's finance minister Mohamed Maait said the second payment from the Ras El Hekma project is estimated to be $20bn

Egypt to receive $30bn by June but denies $1.5bn new Saudi deal

An Egyptian government spokesperson rebuffed reports on Sunday that the Saudi firm Ajlan & Bros had submitted a $1.5 billion proposal to develop Ras Gamila on the Red Sea. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Enterprise, Mansour Abdelghany, told Ahram Online that no such offers would be considered until an international advisory firm completes […]

A customer paying with a credit card inside the Black Friday Market in Beirut. Lebanon wants more people to move away from cash

Lebanon launches plan to promote use of bank cards

Lebanese central bank Banque du Liban announced a new agreement on Thursday that it hopes will result in a rebound in the use of bank cards. As part of the agreement, Mastercard and Visa will lower card fees on transactions, particularly for people with bank accounts based outside Lebanon. In a press release, the bank […]

Visitor numbers to Lebanon for the first 10 months of 2023 were up 21% on 2022 but there is currently 'no significant traffic' from the West

Beirut airport arrivals drop as Westerners stay away

The daily arrival rate at Lebanon’s only functioning international airport is down by 4 percent year on year in the first quarter of this year, according to Marwan Haber, the head of Middle East Airline’s (MEA) commercial division. Speaking at the Horeca hospitality conference in Beirut on Tuesday Haber said 95 percent of arrivals were […]

Egypt growth forecast Cairo street

World Bank lowers Egypt’s growth forecast again

The World Bank has downgraded Egypt’s growth forecast for the current fiscal year to 2.8 percent, the lowest for 11 years, despite recent investment in the country of nearly $60 billion. In its latest Middle East and North Africa economic update, the bank blamed “sluggish industrial sector performance” and the effects of war in the […]

A closed Bank of Beirut branch in Beirut, Lebanon. Some private banks could be forced into liquidation by the government's debt plan

The banking blame game stifling Lebanon’s IMF deal

Lebanon’s proposed International Monetary Fund deal, agreed two years ago and designed to put the country on the road to recovery, seems no closer to realisation. One of the key stumbling points is reform of the banking sector. The combined liabilities of the country’s banks amount to more than three times the size of Lebanon’s […]

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati has called for 'immediate assistance' from UN agencies

Lebanon PM to declare ‘agricultural disaster zone’ in south

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati is to declare the south of the country an “agricultural disaster zone” as the conflict in Gaza batters Lebanon’s beleaguered economy. Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mikati called for “immediate assistance” from UN agencies and Lebanon’s international partners to help the country overcome the impact of a […]

A man waits for customers at his dates shop in Cairo. The Egyptian government says it will increase tax revenues by 30 percent 'without burdening citizens'

Egypt’s ambitious budget makes private sector a priority

Egypt’s budget for the financial year 2024-25 includes ambitious targets of 4.2 percent growth, a 50 percent increase in private sector investment and a primary surplus of 3.5 percent.  The budget was approved in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday and will be sent to the House of Representatives by the end of the month.  It […]

Egypt IMF bank money withdrawal

What Egypt needs to do to please its $60bn backers

A fast-paced four weeks may have transformed Egypt’s short-term economic prospects – but only if the country abides by the programme agreed with the International Monetary Fund, observers say. Egypt’s international partners have pledged almost $60 billion in loans, grants and investment. The central bank has allowed the pound to slide for the first time […]

Experts believe that the plans made with UN Habitat may change significantly depending on the project's developers

Abu Dhabi’s futuristic vision of an Egyptian metropolis

By 2052, Egypt’s Ras El Hekma will be “competing with the most important cities of the world,” according to the new project’s promotional video. Published on February 23, the day the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ bought development rights to this stretch of coastline as part of a $35 billion deal, the video shows […]

Nejmeh Square in Beirut. Visitor numbers to Lebanon for the first 10 months of 2023 were up 21% on the previous year

Lebanon reports visitor increase despite border conflict

Visitor numbers to Lebanon increased to their highest levels last year since the 2019 economic crisis, despite conflict on the southern border dampening tourism since October. Figures released by the Ministry for Tourism showed the number of visitors to Lebanon in 2023 reached 1.67 million, a 13.7 percent year-on-year increase. Lebanon registered 1.94 million inbound […]

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The EU has agreed $7.4bn of funding to Egypt

EU agrees $8bn funding package with Egypt

The European Union has agreed a €7.4 billion ($8 billion) funding package and upgraded its relationship with Egypt after a meeting in Cairo on Sunday between the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah El Sisi. The deal consists of €5 billion in concessional loans, €1.8 billion of investments and […]

Beirut port blast 2020

Lebanon unveils plans to rebuild shattered Beirut port

Lebanese companies will lead the multi-million-dollar funding for the rehabilitation of Beirut’s port, which will be based mainly on the revenues that the port has been collecting. Ali Hamieh, the country’s caretaker minister of public works and transport, announced the news on Wednesday. The port was partially destroyed in August 2020 when the detonation of […]

A woman shopping at a Cairo market. Egypt's inflation rate increase was driven by large spikes in the cost of food, health and education

Egypt’s inflation rate makes record jump in February

Inflation in Egypt rose unexpectedly in February, authorities reported this week, just days after the pound plummeted more than a third against the US dollar. On Sunday, the Egyptian state statistics agency Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (Capmas) announced that annual urban consumer price inflation rose to 35.6 percent last month, from 29.8 […]

Egyptian pound banknotes

Egyptian pound plunges 55% to match black market dollar

The Egyptian pound plunged by 55 percent on Wednesday to a record official low of 48 against the US dollar, bringing it almost in line with the parallel market rate.  The Egyptian central bank (CBE) said in a statement that it planned to allow the exchange rate to be determined by market forces. At 2pm […]

Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, was speaking at the Marlog marine infrastructure conference in Alexandria

Egypt plans extension to make Suez Canal a ‘dual carriageway’

Egypt is to extend the “dual carriageway” segment of the Suez Canal, to allow northbound ships and southbound ships to travel the full length of the canal simultaneously. The canal’s first double-channel stretch opened in 2015. This extension will add 50km in the north and 30km in the south, the chairman of the Suez Canal […]

The Maersk Discoverer rig drilling for BP offshore Egypt. The company could invest up to $6.5bn in gas and oil projects in the country

BP invests $1.5bn in gas projects in Egypt

BP will invest $1.5 billion to develop gas projects and drilling in Egypt over the next three to four years. It was revealed two weeks ago that the UK-based energy business and Abu Dhabi state oil company Adnoc have agreed to pursue a natural gas joint venture in Egypt.  The venture, reported by Bloomberg on […]

Asked about reports the IMF loan could rise to $12bn, managing director Kristalina Georgieva said: 'There is nothing wrong in thinking big'

IMF expects bigger loan deal for Egypt within weeks

The International Monetary Fund expects a financing package for Egypt to be finalised within weeks, its chief said on Tuesday – while also entertaining speculation that the loan could rise to $12 billion. Speaking on the sidelines of a G20 finance meeting in Brazil, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters that issues delaying the […]