Egypt current account deficit narrows to $13.2 billion in nine months through March
The bank attributed the slimmer deficit to an 86.6% increase in remittances from Egyptians working abroad, as well as a rise in the services surplus due to 23% higher tourism revenue.
Oil exports declined by $430.5 million to $4.2 billion, from $4.6 a year earlier, while oil imports increased by $4.8 billion to $14.5 billion, from $9.7 billion.
Egypt has been seeking to import more fuel oil and liquefied natural gas this year to meet its power demands after enduring blackouts during periods of shaky gas supply in the past two years.
Concerns intensified after the supply of natural gas from Israel to Egypt dropped during Israel's air war with Iran.
Suez Canal revenues declined to $2.6 billion, from $5.8 billion in a year earlier, as revenue from the vital global trade route continued to suffer because of Yemeni Houthis' attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
The Iran-aligned group says it attacks ships linked to Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Egypt's tourism revenue reached $12.5 billion from July 2024 through March 2025, compared to $10.9 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Remittances from Egyptians working abroad increased to $26.4 billion, from $14.5 billion.
Foreign direct investment hit $9.8 billion, compared to $23.7 billion.
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BBC News
38 minutes ago
- BBC News
Starlink react afta network glitch, as Musk order shutdown of Starlink satellite service for territory wey Ukraine retake from Russia
Billionaire Elon Musk don tok sorry afta Starling bin experience outage wia service bin go off and users no fit access am. Plenti users bin compain of how dem no fit use dia Starlink as dia internet no work again and dem wondr wetin cause am. Starlink confam say tru tru dia network go off and dem bin dey work to bring am back and solve di issue. "Starlink dey currently for network outage and we dey actively implement solution." Di new generation of Starlink owned by SpaceX satellites dey provide fast internet around di world. Di satellites dey provide broadband internet around di world, especially for remote places, wey include some kontris for Africa and challenging environments like Ukraine and Yemen. Dem also dey use am to connect remote areas of di UK to fast internet. For 2022, tests bin show say Starlink fit deliver internet speeds four times faster dan di average internet, according to di Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Howeva, afta di Starlink network go off Musk say dem dey work to restore am and e no go happun again. "Service go dey restored shortly. Sorry for di outage. SpaceX go remedy root cause to ensure say e no happun again," Musk tok for X. Wetin cause Starlink outage? According to Michael Nicolls, VP of Starlink Engineering, na internal software service bin cause di outage wey make network go off. E say dem don restore di network and dem dey work to find wetin cause am so e no go happun again. "Starlink don dey mostly recova from di network outage, wey last for about 2.5 hours. Di outage na sake of failure of key internal software services wey dey operate di core network," Nicolls tok for X. Starlink for dia own reply say dem sabi how important e dey to dey connected, and dem beg say make pipo no vex for di kasala. How big Starlink presence be for Africa? Starlink dey operate for more dan 20 African kontris, wit Somalia, wey dey suffer from Islamist insurgency - give am10-year licence on 13 April, two days bifor Lesotho decide to give dem too. Starlink dey provide high-speed internet services to remote or underserved areas, e be a potential game-changer for rural areas wey no fit access traditional forms of connectivity such as mobile broadband and fibre. Dis na beco Starlink, instead of relying on fibre optics or cables to transmit data, dey use a network of satellites for low Earth orbit. Becos dem dey closer to di ground, dem get faster transmission speeds dan traditional satellites. Nigeria na di first African state to allow Starlink to operate, for 2023. Di company since dat time don grown into di second-biggest internet service provider for di most-populous kontri for Africa. But Starlink no still get any presence for South Africa - di most industrialised nation for di continent. Enterprising locals bin don find way to connect to di service by using regional roaming packages wey dem bin buy for kontris wia di service bin dey available. Starlink end am last year while Icasa bin also warn local companies say anybody wey dem catch, wey dey provide di service illegally fit face hefty fine. Yet wit an estimated 20% of South Africans not having access to di internet at all - many in rural areas - e fit dey beneficial for both Starlink and di goment to reach a compromise. For Starlink e fit bring more market, while satellite broadband fit help di goment achieve dia goal of providing universal internet access by 2030. Report say Musk order shutdown of Starlink satellite service for Russia-Ukraine war A Reuters report say during a pivotal push by Ukraine to retake territory from Russia for late September 2022, Elon Musk bin give order wey disturb di counteroffensive and reduce Kyiv trust for Starlink. Di report say Starlink na di satellite internet service wey di billionaire provide early for di war to help Ukraine military maintain battlefield connectivity. According to three pipo wey dey familiar wit di command, dem tell Reuters say Musk bin tell one senior engineer for di California offices of SpaceX, di Musk venture wey dey control Starlink, to cut coverage for areas wey include Kherson, a strategic region north of di Black Sea wey Ukraine bin dey try to reclaim. "We gatz do dis," Michael Nicolls, di Starlink engineer, tell colleagues as e receive di order, one of dis pipo tell Reuters. Di report say staff bin obey, di three pipo tell Reuters, say dem deactivate at least hundred Starlink terminals, dia hexagon-shaped cells go dark for internal map of di company coverage. Di move bin also affect oda areas wey Russia seize, including some of Donetsk province inside east. According to di report, sake of Musk order, Ukrainian troops suddenly face communications blackout, according to wetin one Ukrainian military official, advisor to di armed forces, and two odas wey experience Starlink failure near di front lines. Soldiers bin panic, drones wey dey survey Russian forces bin go dark, and long-range artillery units, wey dey rely on Starlink to aim dia fire, struggle to hit targets. As a result, di Ukrainian military official and di military advisor say, troops bin fail to surround a Russian position for di town of Beryslav, east of Kherson, di administrative center of di region of di same name. Meanwhile, Ukraine counteroffensive bin succeed to reclaim Beryslav, di city of Kherson and some additional territory wey Russia don occupy. But Musk order, wey neva dey previously reported, na di first instance of di billionaire actively shutting off Starlink coverage ova a battlefield during di conflict, Reuters report. Reuters report say Musk and Nicolls no respond to dia requests for comment. But one SpaceX tok tok pesin say through mail say wetin di news agency bin report dey "inaccurate" and refer reporters to X post earlier dis year wia di company say: "Starlink dey fully committed to provide service to Ukraine." Di office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and di kontri Ministry of Defence no respond to Reuters requests for comment. Starlink still dey provide service to Ukraine, and di Ukrainian military rely on am for some connectivity.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Newcastle's Alexander Isak offered £600,000-a-week tax-free deal by Al-Hilal
Alexander Isak has been offered a staggering £600,000-a-week tax-free deal by Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia with further lucrative bonuses on top. The Newcastle striker is open to leaving St James' Park and Liverpool, who are long-term admirers, are keeping an eye on the situation. Isak has not travelled to Asia with his Newcastle teammates for the club's pre-season tour, officially because of a minor muscle injury, and is assessing his options. They include Al-Hilal, who reached the Club World Cup quarter-finals, losing to Fluminense, and want to make a grand statement by signing Isak – one of the most coveted players on the market. Al-Hilal, who are managed by Simone Inzaghi, are prepared to sweeten the package for the striker with bonuses if he were to win the league and/or the Asian Champions League and top the scoring charts. Isak has been unsettled by the transfer talk and he did not play for Newcastle in the friendly at Celtic last Saturday. The club have no desire to sell him and the fans would surely take the dimmest of views of their Saudi owners if they were to let him go to Al-Hilal. Like Newcastle, Al‑Hilal are owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. Liverpool would not be able to match the personal terms that Al‑Hilal have proposed and it is unclear whether they would be able to afford the fee; Isak is valued at about £120m. Liverpool have signed another striker – Hugo Ekitiké, for £79m from Eintracht Frankfurt – and spent heavily in other areas, most notably the £116m package for the midfielder Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen. Their other big deals have been for Milos Kerkez (£40m from Bournemouth), Jeremie Frimpong (£29.5m, Leverkusen) and Giorgi Mamardashvili (£25m, Valencia). Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion When sales are factored in, chiefly those of Jarell Quansah (£30m to Leverkusen), Caoimhín Kelleher (£12.5m to Brentford) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£10m to Real Madrid), Liverpool's net transfer spend stands at £235.5m. It is possible they could raise further funds by selling Darwin Núñez, Harvey Elliott and even Luis Díaz, although they have maintained the Colombian is not for sale. Isak is contracted to Newcastle until 2028.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Tourism minister: Britain must boost visitors from home and away
'I've been cleaning toilets and changing beds, pulling pints, making a very bad cup of cappuccino and cutting up onions badly.' Should Sir Chris Bryant ever wish to switch career and move into the hospitality industry, he might want to work on his CV. Yet the tourism minister gets an A for effort. On Wednesday afternoon, I caught up with him at Mylor Sailing School in Cornwall. He had just completed a stint of work experience that had included a hotel in Falmouth and a watersports enterprise just north on Mylor Creek. 'First of all, I'm trying to champion British tourism,' Sir Chris told me. 'As you know, the number of domestic visitors to UK tourism venues has fallen and has not reached pre-Covid levels yet. 'Secondly, I want to listen to the industry about the challenges they face.' That is a brave invitation to businesses who feel bruised by employers' national insurance rises, angry at what they see as unfair competition from short-term lets on platforms such as Airbnb and who are unimpressed by the level of support the tourism industry gets from the government. More than one business leader has complained to me about Sir Chris's job title. He is minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism, and therefore has plenty on his professional plate besides the crucial business of persuading more British holidaymakers to stay at home – and luring more foreign visitors to the UK. Oh, and he also serves as MP for Rhondda and Ogmore. But on Wednesday, the focus of the multitasking minister was strictly tourism. 'I was in a hotel room here today in Falmouth,' Sir Chris told me. 'It could have been a room in an Airbnb – exactly the same. But the Airbnb wouldn't have paid any tax. They wouldn't have to abide by any of the legislation that a hotel would have to abide by. And that's simply unfair. So we need to level that up. And I want to make sure that in areas that have a lot of short-term lets, the local authority has an idea of exactly what's going on locally. So that should be in place by next April. 'We've got to get much better at enabling people not just to visit London. It's a depressing fact: something like 60 per cent of international visitors only come to London. So we need to do better with that.' A reminder that inbound tourism is the closest a community, county or country can get to free money. International visitors spend at local enterprises, creating jobs and helping to fund amenities that the citizens could not sustain on their own. They also pay a fortune in taxes and fees: starting with £16 for an Electronic Travel Authorisation, continuing with 20 per cent VAT on practically everything they spend and finishing with air passenger duty at anything from £13 (returning home to Europe in economy class) to £224 (heading back to Singapore or Sydney in business class). A nation whose public finances are in worse shape than a minister's chopped onion needs foreign tourists desperately. Sir Chris understands this. He has set an ambitious target of attracting 50 million international arrivals by 2030, which will require a compound increase of four per cent each year until the end of the decade. I put it to him that a really easy way to get a huge tourism win is simply to reverse the petulant post- Brexit decision to exclude all Europeans with national ID cards but without passports. I calculate that this is the status of 300 million citizens, who can go to dozens of countries – including some outside the EU – with their identity cards. But the UK wants to keep them out, unless they sort out a passport. Given the huge strides in improving the security of ID cards, this seems a good time to unlock a tourism dividend. The tourism minister does not agree. He says: 'I think there's a strong argument for, in particular, school trips. Obviously we've sorted that out with the French and I think there's an agreement coming with the Germans as well to be able to do that. 'But I don't think we want to completely abandon the requirements to have proper passport controls. Not least because ID cards in different European countries perform different functions, and are therefore constructed in different ways and have different security arrangements around them. 'I think we would want to make sure that everyone coming here is coming here validly.' As you will realise, I am contractually required when speaking to any tourism minister at the start of the summer where they will be holidaying. 'Thus far this year I've had a bit of a holiday in Loch Lomond at the Cameron House Hotel. Very beautiful, very cold on the water. And we went to a place in the Cotswolds for a weekend a few weeks ago. 'I'm going to Chepstow with my mother-in-law and my husband in a few weeks' time. I've got a week in the south of France when I'm probably going to burn to a crisp.' After a hyperactive Wednesday, he deserves to be on the guest side of the hospitality industry.
