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Read Full Issue Dalia Khorshid is not happy with World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Inclusive Growth and Development Index (IDI): WEF’s IDI placed Egypt 73rd out of its sample of 79 countries and said, “The country struggles with many aspects of inclusive growth.” The Investment Ministry responded, according to Al Mal, saying it ignored the developments achieved in the last two years, and focused instead on the period between 2011 and 2015. The Ministry also believes WEF should have compared Egypt only to its “Lower Middle Income” peers and not the whole sample. It also stressed that the last two years have had some pivotal changes to the economic climate that would have improved Egypt’s ranking. We would have loved to see the Ministry acknowledge some of the shortfalls mentioned in the report and present a plan to address them instead.
… For the record, EMRA has withdrawn exploration licenses from companies awarded concession areas in the Eastern Desert from 2007 to 2009 last June and was looking to reissue tenders for as many as 120 “abandoned” gold mines. The licenses were withdrawn from the “smaller companies” as they were unable to meet production targets due to financial and operational challenges. Taima then said EMRA’s move left only four active mining companies in Egypt. One of them is Matz Holding, which at the time, had already ceased operations on one of its two concession areas altogether and was forced by EMRA either to give up the rights to the other or find a new development partner for it. The other three active operators Taima mentioned at the time were: Centamin, Thani Stratex, and Aton Resources (then Alexander Nubia) — who all indicated they do not agree with the terms of EMRA’s bid round.
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