The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced that Egypt’s cotton exports have risen by 181.6% in the second quarter (Q2) from December 2017 to February 2018, recording 379,700 tons compared to 134,800 tons during Q2 of the previous year. However, in its quarterly newsletter covering that period, CAPMAS announced that the domestic cotton use has seen a 63% plummet, reaching 47,200 metric kantars (one kantar is equal to 45.02 kilograms), compared to 127,600 metric kantars last year.

The Egyptian Parliament s manpower committee approved on Sunday a draft law granting annual and additional raises for state employees and public servants, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported. The first article of the draft law s four articles stipulates a 15% increase in pensions for state employees to be added to their basic pensions as of 30 June 2018, and an increase of the minimum pension to EGP 750 per month.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail signed a new decree raising the fees of drinking water and sanitation services by 46.5%, a second consecutive increase in less than a year, according to the Official Gazette. The decision raised the cost of drinking water from 65 piasters to LE 3.15 per cubic meter according to the consumption category. The decision also included a 12% increase in sanitation fees. Sewage fees, calculated upon the water consumption bill, surged to 75% of the water price.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) to Egypt has declined to $1.9 billion in the second quarter of fiscal year 2017/2018, down from $2.4 billion in the same period last year at a rate of 20.8%, the Central Bank of Egypt said on Sunday. According to state-run MENA news agency, the CBE released a monthly report that said overall inflows dropped to $3.4 billion in comparison to $3.9 billion during the corresponding period of FY 2016/2017.

Ethiopia’s ambassador to Sudan, Mawtada Zoudi, announced on Wednesday that the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has passed 65% completion. During an Iftar (Ramadan breakfast) feast in Sudan for news agencies and the local press, organized by the Ethiopian embassy, Zoudi added that “work in the dam is in full swing.”

Egypt s transport ministry is to start building a new river port in Upper Egypt as part of a recent drive to improve the country s river transport system. The new 15-acre port in Sohag governorate, about 500 kilometres south of Cairo, is the second in the country s south, with the ministry commencing building the first port in the governorate of Qena in April.

The Egyptian government ratified on Wednesday a framework agreement between the National Authority for Military Production and Chinese company GCL to build a solar panels manufacturing complex in Aswan with a manufacturing capacity of 5 GW, according to a cabinet statement. The project is expected to cost $2-$3 billion, Minister of Military Production Mohamed El-Assar said at a press conference, according to Al-Ahram s agriculture portal.

Egypt s Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla said on Wednesday that the country s giant Zohr gas field is expected to produce 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcf/d) by the end of 2018. El-Molla s statements came during in a visit to follow up on thee progress of work in the Mediterranean Zohr field in Port Said governorate; he was accompanied by government officials and the CEOs of Egyptian gas holding companies.

Egypt s Administrative Control Authority (ACA) said on Wednesday that a number of supply ministry officials have been recently arrested for receiving more than EGP 2 million in bribes. The arrested officials include the chairman of Food Industries Holding Company, his office manager, and the minister s media consultant and consultant for political communication, according to the statement the ACA released.

Egyptian prosecutor-general Nabil Sadek has tasked the Ministry of Antiquities with dispatching a team of archaeological experts to Italy to confirm the authenticity of seemingly ancient Egyptian artefacts that were seized from a shipping container at a port in Naples. In an official statement released on Monday, the prosecution said that the Egyptian experts will work with Italian authorities to inspect the seized artefacts and prepare a report for the general prosecution.

Egypt’s Parliament is conducting final preparations for the inauguration of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as president of Egypt for a second term, after he won the election held on March by 97%. Sisi will officially begin his second term as president next Saturday according to Al-Ahram newspaper, following a constitutional oath before the special session of the parliament, which will attended by members of the House of Representatives as well as a number of guests and the media.

Egypt will send Ibrahim Mahlab, the president s assistant for national and strategic projects, to an international conference in Paris on Tuesday which aims to help resolve the Libyan conflict. Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid announced on Sunday that Mahlab would be attending the event, which is being hosted by the French government.

The General Transportation Authority announced on Tuesday that Egypt’s first batch of electric buses from BYD Chinese company will arrive on June and will operate on the Corniche route in Alexandria. Contracts for the 15 buses were signed last January, making Alexandria the first Egyptian and Middle Eastern city to have electric buses.

Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi received a phone call from his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Sunday to discuss several regional issues, including developments in Libya. The two leaders also discussed ways of enhancing bilateral cooperation and other regional issues, El-Sisiss spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement, with Macron praising Egypts efforts to restore stability and to unify Libyas military.

Egypt s unemployment rate fell to 10.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 from 11.3 per cent in the same period in 2017, according to statistics from the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). This figure is also an improvement over 2016 when unemployment reached 12.5 per cent. The number of people in employment rose to around 26 million, while the number of those looking for jobs stood at around three million, representing 10.6 per cent of the total workforce. The latter is estimated at about 29 million, according to CAPMAS.

Egypt s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry discussed on Thursday Egyptian-German bilateral relations with Volker Kauder, the majority leader in Germany s Bundestag, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement. Kauder is in Egypt to meet with Egyptian officials to discuss bilateral cooperation, especially military cooperation, as well as the war on terrorism and countering irregular migration.

After two years of negotiations Egypt and Russia signed an agreement on Wednesday to establish the Russian industrial zone in the Suez Canal area, under the 11th session of the Egyptian-Russian Joint Committee meetings held in Moscow. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry previously announced that Egypt and Russia were on the verge of signing contracts for the Russian Industrial Zone, according to a press release on the Foreign Ministry’s Facebook page earlier in May.

After winning a second term with 97 per cent of the vote in Egypt s 2018 presidential elections, incumbent President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is expected to take his new oath of office in parliament. Parliamentary spokesman Salah Hassaballah told reporters this week that El-Sisi will be sworn in for his second term on 2 June. "Intensive contacts between the president s office and parliament s secretariat-general are underway to conclude preparations for the swearing-in ceremony scheduled for the first week of June," Hassaballah said.

Immigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs Minister Nabila Makram has said that her ministry, in cooperation with the Ministry of Manpower, is currently working to renew work permits for Egyptian workers abroad. In statements to Al-Masry Al-Youm, the minister said that some governors issued decisions not to renew their permits.

Egypt s Minister of Military production Mohamed El-Assar said on Tuesday that the ministry s factories and companies do not aim to compete with private sector companies, highlighting that 70 percent of the ministry s projects are undertaken in partnership with the private sector, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported. The minister s comments came during his meeting with a number of reporters from online national outlets and newspapers at the ministry s headquarters.

HSBC is “fundamentally” optimistic on Egypt s near-term outlook, the bank s Chief Economist for Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa Simon Williams said at an HSBC Economist Roadshow event in Cairo, according to a recent press release. Williams called the gains from Egypt s economic reform programme “impressive,” adding that his bank believes they have momentum.