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Africa

Coin, Money, Nickel

Tunisia’s dinar hits record low, may erode forex reserves

Tunisia’s dinar currency has fallen to a record low versus the dollar, central bank data showed on Thursday, a decline that threatens to erode Tunisia’s foreign currency reserves and will increase inflationary pressures. Tunisia’s annual inflation rate rose to 8.6 percent in August, the highest level in nearly three decades. The dinar traded at 3.309 […]

Sonatrach in Algeria

Algeria’s gas in demand as Europe looks beyond Russia

Recent legal changes to woo international oil companies and new projects by state-owned Sonatrach should help Algeria maintain record natural gas production and raise exports to the European Union, industry experts predict.  EU countries have scrambled to find alternative gas suppliers following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. In 2020 Russia provided 43 percent of […]

Tea vendor in Tunis

Tunisians protest against poverty, high prices and food shortages

Hundreds of Tunisians protested against poverty, high prices and food shortages in the capital on Sunday night, escalating pressure on the government of President Kais Saied. Tunisia is struggling to revive its public finances as discontent grows over inflation of nearly 9 percent and a shortage of many food items in stores because the country […]

UAE’s budget carrier Air Arabia to launch new airline in Sudan

Sharjah-based Air Arabia will launch a new venture, Air Arabia Sudan, in partnership with DAL Group, the budget airline said in a statement on Friday.  Khartoum-based Air Arabia Sudan will operate a fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft, pending regulatory approval. The statement did not provide any details on routes, schedules or fleet size but said […]

Altibbi plans healthcare expansion in North Africa and Pakistan

Altibbi, the largest AI-based digital health provider in the Arab world, is looking to expand into North Africa and Pakistan after “turbocharging” growth in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, its CEO has told AGBI. Jalill Allabadi said the proceeds from Altibbi’s latest funding round of $44 million – the largest ever single financing round for a […]

Person, Human, Burger

Tunisia hopes to reach deal with IMF by end of October

The Tunisian government and the powerful UGTT union on Thursday signed a deal to boost public sector wages by five percent, a step that may ease social tensions. But they did not announce any further agreement on reforms needed for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout. “The Tunisian negotiating team was in contact yesterday with […]

Morocco in drive to become a global EV manufacturing hub

Ask anyone to name the global electric vehicle manufacturing powerhouses and the US and China are the first countries that will spring to mind.  But Morocco now looks set to join the big league after its government announced in July that it is planning to ink a deal with several EV battery manufacturers to construct […]

Tunisian government and union sign wages deal to ease tensions

Tunisia’s government and main labour union, Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), on Thursday signed a deal to boost wages, a step that may ease social tensions, but they did not announce any further agreement on reforms needed for an IMF bailout. The increase in state salaries of five percent a year for three years, and […]

Person, Human, Shoe

Tunisia’s labour union agrees to wage deal amid IMF talks

Tunisia’s government and a powerful labour union have agreed a public sector wage increase over the next three years, part of their talks on wider economic reforms aimed at securing a foreign bailout for state finances. UGTT union officials and a state news agency said on Wednesday the agreement would lift wages for state employees […]

Tunisia’s trade deficit jumps to $5.3bn in eight months of 2022

Tunisia’s balance of trade was in deficit by TND 16.9 billion ($5.32 billion) in the first eight months of 2022, an increase of 61 percent from a year earlier, mainly because of high energy prices, the state Institute of Statistics (INS) said on Monday. The trade deficit was TND 10.48 billion in the same period […]

Morocco’s farming exports rise 13%, despite drought challenges

Morocco’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has said that the volume of its exports increased by 13 percent in 2021-2022, with tomatoes and berries rising by 19 percent and 18 percent, respectively, according to a local newspaper. Despite the difficult international circumstances, the exports of market garden crops have registered good performances during the 2021-2022 […]

Gas-rich Algeria struggles to assuage Europe’s energy crisis

The Algerian energy sector looked well placed to capitalise on the war in Ukraine and the European energy crisis that it unleashed — but it has failed to live up to that expectation. In fact, rather than increasing gas exports to fill the gaping hole left by Russian energy, Algerian exports have plunged in 2022. […]

Tunisia’s annual inflation rises to 8.6% in August 2022

Tunisia’s annual inflation jumped to 8.6 percent in August 2022 from 8.2 percent in July 2022, Agence Tunis Afrique Presse reported, citing the National Statistics Institute.  Food prices went up 11.9 percent in August year-on-year, mainly due to the price rise of eggs, poultry, edible oils, fresh fruits and vegetables. The core inflation rate, excluding […]

Egypt non-oil activity continues to shrink, with weak outlook

Non-oil private sector activity in Egypt shrank for the 21st month running in August, and businesses took a bleak view of the year ahead amid concerns over the currency, Ukraine and import bottlenecks, a survey showed on Monday. The S&P Global Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) improved to 47.6 from July’s 46.4, but remained below […]

Money, Passport, Document

Rising tax revenues helps shrink Tunisia’s H1 2022 budget deficit

Tunisia’s budget deficit improved to TND470.8 million ($147.92 million) in H1 2022 from TND1.9 billion in the same period last year, state news agency TAP reported, citing the finance ministry. This lower deficit is mainly driven by higher budgetary resources, which grew to TND19.3 billion in June 2022 from TND15.8 billion in June 2021 as […]

Harbor, Water, Waterfront

Egypt introduces measures to help clear backed up ports

Egypt’s finance ministry has put in place a package of measures to clear a backlog of goods piled up in port, a ministry statement said on Tuesday. A severe shortage of foreign currency in Egypt over the last six months has sent banks and importers scrambling to pay for the letters of credit needed to […]

Egypt budget deficit narrow to 5.6% of GDP in 2022

Egypt expects more progress on reducing its budget deficit this year and a foresees a decline in its debt ratio after currency devaluations caused it to rise last year, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait told a news conference on Monday. The deficit was expected to narrow to 5.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the […]

Tie, Accessories, Accessory

Currency tops list of challenges for Egypt’s central bank governor

Egypt’s new central bank governor, Hassan Abdalla, faces a daunting task as he tries to repair an economy derailed by an overvalued currency, rampant inflation and a banking system emptied of most of its foreign currency. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi chose Abdalla for the position last week after outgoing governor Tarek Amer resigned suddenly, barely a […]

Person, Human, Sunglasses

Food, fuel shortages hit Tunisian shops amid looming crisis

Some Tunisian shops are rationing goods including cooking oil, sugar and butter, while big queues have hit petrol stations amid a fuel shortage as the government navigates a looming crisis in public finances. Some grocery shops have restricted customers to single packs of items in short supply, while queues outside petrol stations have blocked traffic […]

High Rise, City, Urban

Egypt’s GDP surged by 6.6% in year to June-end

Egypt’s economy expanded by 6.6 percent in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, with growth accelerating from the previous year’s 3.3 percent as activity recovered after the coronavirus pandemic before slowing again due to the impact of the war in Ukraine. The growth figure given in a cabinet statement on Thursday was higher […]

Egypt central bank increases cash withdrawal limits

Egypt’s central bank on Thursday increased the maximum amount of cash customers are allowed to withdraw from their bank accounts and removed restrictions on how much they could deposit entirely. Under a rule put in place in April 2020, the central bank restricted withdrawals to EGP 50,000 ($2,600), but now will allow withdrawals of up […]