S&P Global Ratings has downgraded Egypt's rating further into negative territory, citing the slow progress being made on monetary and structural reforms.
The country's long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings were revised to “B-” from “B”, which is “highly speculative” and is six levels below investment grade, the New York-based ratings agency said on Friday.
Non-investment grade makes it more difficult for a country to access capital markets and raise funding that it needs when it wants to borrow.
S&P said the slow pace of the reforms has delayed the disbursement of multilateral and bilateral funds “critical to covering Egypt's high external funding needs”.
“The costs of delay include a foreign currency shortage, a wide gap between the official and informal exchange rates, lower remittance inflows and weaker private sector confidence and growth,” it said.
The ratings agency, however, maintained its stable outlook for Egypt.
The outlook “balances the risk that authorities may be unable to finance high external debt redemptions or address the country's foreign currency shortage against the possibility of an acceleration of key monetary and economic reforms that would help bridge Egypt's large external financing gap”.
Egypt, the most populous Arab country and one of the biggest wheat importers globally, has faced economic challenges since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Annual inflation in the Arab world's third-largest economy hit 38 per cent in September, marking the fourth consecutive month of record-high inflation numbers in the cash-strapped North African country, data from the country’s statistics agency had shown.
Egypt has devalued its currency three times since March 2022, and the pound has lost more than half its value since then. The country has been facing a dollar crunch and mounting foreign debt.
S&P said it could lower its ratings on Egypt further if authorities fail to implement the macroeconomic reforms required to reduce the country's economic imbalances and to unlock multilateral and bilateral funding.
“We could also lower the ratings if the government's already elevated interest costs rise further, increasing the risk of a distressed debt exchange,” it said.
On the other hand, an upgrade is possible if Cairo is able to reduce net government debt levels and gross external financing needs, through an acceleration of reforms that support competitiveness, growth and fiscal outcomes.
“Under such a scenario, we would expect renewed bilateral and multilateral financial support,” S&P said.
S&P expects Egypt's economic growth to average about 4 per cent over the next three years, from 6.6 per cent in 2022.
“The lack of foreign currency availability restricted imports, which depressed economic activity, particularly investment,” it said.
However, it pointed out that the projection will remain highly sensitive to exchange rate and inflation trends, as well as to the fallout on tourism stemming from the continuing Israel-Hamas conflict.
Tourism has been a vital source of income for the government: in fiscal year 2023, tourism revenue on the balance of payments hit a record high of $14 billion, supported by Egypt hosting the Cop27 climate change summit.
“A sharp decline in tourists from Russia and Ukraine was more than compensated by a pick-up in tourists from other countries, including Germany and Italy,” S&P said.
“The tourism sector is an important source of foreign currency earnings for Egypt. However, given the uncertainty around the exchange rate, we understand the associated foreign currency inflow for the most part has been kept by commercial entities rather than flowing through the financial system.”
With the foreign currency crunch, S&P expects GDP growth to slow further in fiscal year 2024. However, as the central bank's long-term strategy for the exchange rate becomes clearer, market confidence should improve, the agency said.
“We project growth to pick up over our forecast horizon to fiscal 2026. The construction and energy sectors could be key drivers of growth, along with IT and communications, wholesale and retail trade, agriculture, and health care,” it said.
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Don't get fined
The UAE FTA requires following to be kept:
- Records of all supplies and imports of goods and services
- All tax invoices and tax credit notes
- Alternative documents related to receiving goods or services
- All tax invoices and tax credit notes
- Alternative documents issued
- Records of goods and services that have been disposed of or used for matters not related to business
Stage 2 results
1 Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 04:18:18
2 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:02
3 Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:04
4 Diego Ulissi (ITA) UAE Team Emirates
5 Rick Zabel (GER) Israel Start-Up Nation
General Classification
1 Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 07:47:19
2 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:12
3 Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:16
4 Nikolai Cherkasov (RUS) Gazprom-Rusvelo 00:00:17
5 Alexey Lutsensko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 00:00:19
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The specs
Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder
Transmission: CVT auto
Power: 181bhp
Torque: 244Nm
Price: Dh122,900
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
Meydan race card
6pm Dubai Trophy – Conditions(TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,200m
6.35Dubai Trophy – Conditions(TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,200m
1,800m
7.10pm Jumeirah Derby Trial – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (T)
1,800m ,400m
7.45pm Al Rashidiya – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,800m
8.20pm Al Fahidi Fort – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,400m
8.55pm Dubawi Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,200m
9.30pm Aliyah – Rated Conditions (TB) $80,000 (D) 2,000m
RACECARD
6pm Emaar Dubai Sprint – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (Turf) 1,200m
6.35pm Graduate Stakes – Conditions (TB) $100,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.10pm Al Khail Trophy – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 2,810m
7.45pm UAE 1000 Guineas – Listed (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,600m
8.20pm Zabeel Turf – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 2,000m
8.55pm Downtown Dubai Cup – Rated Conditions (TB) $80,000 (D) 1,400m
9.30pm Zabeel Mile – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,600m
10.05pm Dubai Sprint – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 1,200m
List of UAE medal winners
Gold
Faisal Al Ketbi (Open weight and 94kg)
Talib Al Kirbi (69kg)
Omar Al Fadhli (56kg)
Silver
Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Khalfan Belhol (85kg)
Zayed Al Mansoori (62kg)
Mouza Al Shamsi (49kg women)
Bronze
Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi (Open and 94kg)
Saood Al Hammadi (77kg)
Said Al Mazroui (62kg)
Obaid Al Nuaimi (56kg)
Bashayer Al Matrooshi (62kg women)
Reem Abdulkareem (45kg women)
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HEADLINE HERE
- I would recommend writing out the text in the body
- And then copy into this box
- It can be as long as you link
- But I recommend you use the bullet point function (see red square)
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- That's about it
Three ways to boost your credit score
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
1. Make sure you make your payments on time;
2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;
3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.
Saturday's results
Brighton 1-1 Leicester City
Everton 1-0 Cardiff City
Manchester United 0-0 Crystal Palace
Watford 0-3 Liverpool
West Ham United 0-4 Manchester City
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
