Egypt

With some of the largest reserves of natural gas on the continent and a robust long-term upstream outlook, Egypt’s natural gas industry has made a significant turnaround by switching from exporting to importing. In the first decade of this century, Egypt went about exploiting its gas resource with great success, doubling production between 2000 and 2006. However, after a peak...

Thanks to their lengthy development cycles, Egypt’s oil and gas fields have continued to attract foreign investment steadily over the past three years, in spite of the broader instability in the country. The reserves remain extensive enough to ensure continued interest in them for years to come. Nevertheless, there has been a plateau in production levels and, due to rising...

The three years since the 2011 revolution have proven to be profitable for most of Egypt’s insurers, making it one of the few sectors to overcome the country’s economic malaise. Although insurers have been faced with substantial payouts as a result of civil disturbances, premiums have grown and new products have been developed to meet the increasing demand for cover....

Given the size of its population and the sophistication of its financial services sectors, the growth of Egypt’s insurance industry remains modest. The country’s insurance penetration rate – the gross value of its insurance premiums as a percentage of GDP – was only 0.73% in 2012, according to Swiss Re’s report “World Insurance in 2012.”

After the downturn it suffered in the wake of Egypt’s 2011 revolution, the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) has staged an impressive recovery. Beginning in 2012, a run of positive growth extended into 2014 and the year saw the main index finally overtake the high point reached prior to the economic crisis. Having dealt effectively with the fallout from the broader economic...

THE COMPANY: Crédit Agricole Egypt is 60.5% owned by the Crédit Agricole Group, which has operations in 70 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. In September 2006, Egyptian American Bank merged its operations with Calyon Bank Egypt to become Crédit Agricole Egypt. As of December 2013, the bank had a 1.9% deposit market...