February 29th, 2012 by Oman Views

Egypt says to sign deal for $3.2 billion IMF loan

CAIRO (AP) – Egypt’s finance minister says Cairo expects to sign a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund for $3.2 billion next month.

The state-run al-Ahram daily of Sunday quoted Mumtaz al-Said as saying that sum would be disbursed in three stages: the first upon the deal’s signing, and the second and third three and six months later, respectively.

Egypt formally requested the loan in January, after rejecting an offer made last year. The IMF could not immediately be reached for comment.

Egypt’s economy has been badly battered by more than a year of unrest since an 18-day uprising pushed President Hosni Mubarak from power on Feb. 11, 2011.

The report said Egypt is also negotiating a second loan for $1 billion with the World Bank.

By Marie-Louise Gumuchian | Reuters

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February 11th, 2012 by Oman Views

New blast hits Egypt’s gas pipeline to Israel

Saboteurs on Sunday blew up a pipeline that supplies gas to Israel, the 12th such attack in a year, security officials said.

Masked gunmen planted explosives under the pipeline in the Al-Massaeed area, close to the town of El-Arish in the north of the Sinai peninsula, they said.

Witnesses said they heard a very loud explosion, before a large fire broke out.

Sources say the attack on the pipeline came the day after an Islamist leader from the area died in his prison cell in Cairo. Interior ministry officials said he died from natural causes.

Emergency services were rushed to the scene to try to control the blaze, the official said, adding that there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The pipeline, which carries gas through the Sinai and on to Jordan and Israel, has already been attacked 11 times over the past year, the first during the mass uprisings that drove president Hosni Mubarak from power in February 2011.

Gas deliveries to Israel, agreed under Mubarak, have come under heavy criticism in Egypt.

Israel generates 40 percent of its electricity using natural gas, and Egypt provides 43 percent of its gas supplies.

Egyptian gas also covers 80 percent of Jordan’s electricity production demand – 6.8 million cubic metres a day.

Egypt’s Sinai region is particularly security sensitive due to tensions with the Bedouin community living there, which is heavily armed.

Many goods are smuggled to the Palestinian enclave of Gaza through the Sinai, which the Israelis also charge is a rear base for militant attacks against its territory.

AFP

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January 22nd, 2012 by Oman Views

Egypt military ruler ‘to visit Libya’

Egypt’s military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi is to visit Libya on Monday to bolster ties between the two neighbouring countries where popular protests have unseated veteran leaders, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported.

“Tantawi will visit Tripoli the day after tomorrow to open a new page with Libya,” the newspaper said on Saturday.

He will hold talks with the leader of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, it added.

Tantawi heads the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) which has ruled Egypt since veteran president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February last year following an 18-day popular uprising.

His talks with Libya’s interim rulers, including Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib, will include “Egypt’s participation in the reconstruction of Libya” as well as Libyan investments in Egypt.

Last week, Abdel Jalil said that Libya will review all its investments abroad, with some overseas projects expected to be stopped.

“There are some investments that could be developed and others that it would be better to terminate for the good of the Libyan people,” he said.

Until its overthrow last year, the regime of Moamer Kadhafi invested vast sums of money in Africa, the Arab world and beyond, from a sovereign wealth fund set up in 2006.

“Field Marshal Tantawi’s visit underscores the importance of ties between the two countries,” NTC deputy chief Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told Al-Ahram, adding he expected Libya’s investments in Egypt to grow.

According to the paper, several cabinet ministers were to travel to Libya on Saturday ahead of Tantawi, including the ministers of electricity, tourism, planning and labour. Libya is home to a huge community of Egyptian expatriates.

AFP

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