News & Analysis: Egypt
“In March 2020, the African Union created the Rollo Africa Business Simulation Programme to support SMEs and the informal sector. Of the 490 businesses that applied the programme, 93 percent reported their business was heavily impacted by the pandemic and 95 percent testified they never received any government support to combat the economic downturn.”
“The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the African continent has reached 2,248,269 as of Sunday afternoon. The most COVID-19 affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Egypt and Ethiopia”
“The Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt has suspended Sunday schools, meetings and mass services for a month to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Within the past 24 hours, five priests of the Coptic church have died after being infected with the virus.”
“Analysts and bankers say Egyptian lenders, which are generally cash-rich with low loans-to-deposit ratios, may find profits fall and bad loans rise. But they expect banks to remain financially stable.”
“Egypt’s government has set limited working hours for shops amid growing coronavirus cases and fears over a second virus wave. The decision means that, starting from Dec. 1, commercial shops, public restaurants, cafes, workshops, handicrafts and malls will be forced to follow the government’s new opening and closing times.”
COVID-19 Africa Watch talks to Dr. Youssef Boutros-Ghali, former Finance Minister of Egypt and former chairman of the IMF’s International Monetary and Financial Committee, about the economic impact of the pandemic, the policy response, SDRs, and more.
“The death toll among Egyptian medical doctors who caught COVID-19 is currently at 216. While around nine doctors are currently in prison after voicing concerns about the lack of PPE and PCR tests. All of them are facing terrorism-related charges and are banned from having legal representation.”
“A palpable sense of anxiety is emerging from a number of African capitals that when COVID-19 vaccines are finally available, poorer, lesser-developed countries are going to once again be at the end of the line. We saw this earlier this week when Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta suddenly pivoted away from depending entirely on European vaccines, to now looking to Asia for support.”
“Poorer countries face challenges similar to those of advanced economies, but more acutely because of greater inequality, large informal sectors and difficulties with sanitation and social distancing in cramped informal settlements. That goes along with fragile health systems which have, once again, revealed structural weaknesses during the crisis.”
“Up to half of bank employees in Egypt will be encouraged to work from home under guidelines to counter a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Measures recommended by the Federation of Egyptian Banks also include a ban on face-to-face meetings.”
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