Urban & Economy

What stalled Egypt's monorail, and who pays?

Weeks after its expected launch, the New Capital monorail remains idle. Internal sources reveal that accumulated delays have cost the state at least 45 billion Egyptian pounds.

Mohamed Ismail_ 24-2-2026

What stalled Egypt's monorail, and who pays?

Latest stories

The Zohr pipedream: Egypt's enduring gas gap

Urban & Economy_

Eni’s $8B pledge revives hopes for Egypt’s gas comeback, but insiders say there’s no new Zohr, and the giant field won’t return to peak output.

Laila El-Abd_ 3-2-2026

The Zohr pipedream: Egypt's enduring gas gap

Debt swaps and the devil in the details

Urban & Economy_

Egypt is moving past "quick fix" land sales like Ras El-Hekma to historic debt swaps. But is the $8B China deal a developmental win or a Sri Lanka-style risk?

Doaa Elsayed_ 11-1-2026

Debt swaps and the devil in the details

Buried in paperwork, Egypt’s gold incentives fail to glitter

Urban & Economy_

Egypt pitched new incentives to lure gold explorers, but the Sukari mine’s discoverer calls them cosmetic. Experts want transparent rules and predictable costs.

Laila El-Abd_ 6-1-2026

Buried in paperwork, Egypt’s gold incentives fail to glitter

Why Egypt’s budget problem isn’t subsidies

Urban & Economy_

Are subsidies really to blame for Egypt’s economic crisis? A closer look at budgets, debt, and IMF prescriptions reveals where the real pressure on public finances lies.

Elhamy Elmerghany_ 17-12-2025

Why Egypt’s budget problem isn’t subsidies

Unemployment may be falling, but labor market tells a deeper story

Urban & Economy_

Egypt’s jobless rate dipped to 6.1% in Q2 2025, but shrinking cohorts and a mass exit from the labor force, especially among women, mask weak job quality and a coming youth surge.

Mohamed Gad_ 16-11-2025

Unemployment may be falling, but labor market tells a deeper story

Will GEM deliver the promised tourism boom?

Urban & Economy_

The Grand Egyptian Museum marks a milestone for Egypt’s tourism, but without broader development, it risks becoming another fragile pillar of an uneven economy.

Amr Adly_ 10-11-2025

Will GEM deliver the promised tourism boom?

The High Cost of Low Prices| Egypt’s agricultural exports

Urban & Economy_

Egypt’s booming farm exports mask hidden costs—massive water loss, underpaid labor, and cheap prices shaped by global competition and currency devaluation.

Osama Diab_ 6-11-2025

The High Cost of Low Prices| Egypt’s agricultural exports

The High Cost of Low Prices| What do we exchange when we trade?

Urban & Economy_

Unequal trade burdens poorer countries with heavy environmental and labor costs while yielding little value, but collective strategies could shift global pricing power.

Osama Diab_ 6-11-2025

The High Cost of Low Prices| What do we exchange when we trade?

When fuel hikes make the school bus a luxury

Urban & Economy_

Fuel price hikes are driving up school bus fees across Egypt, forcing parents to seek cheaper, and often riskier, alternatives as transport costs begin to rival tuition.

Safia Mounir_ 30-10-2025

When fuel hikes make the school bus a luxury

The gain and pain of raising interest rates

Urban & Economy_

Egypt’s high-rate policy curbed inflation but strangled industry; IMF program ends in 2026, raising debate over future priorities.

Mohamed Gad_ 28-9-2025

The gain and pain of raising interest rates

Life after the IMF: An opportunity to think outside the Fund

Urban & Economy_

After a decade of IMF loans, Egypt faces life beyond the Fund. Will Gulf deals and industrial policy replace debt, or repeat unsustainable fixes?

Amr Adly_ 25-9-2025

Life after the IMF: An opportunity to think outside the Fund

Trump, BRICS, and China’s long game

Urban & Economy_

Trump’s tariffs and interventions have strained ties with BRICS states, leaving China space to lead the bloc and potentially reduce reliance on the US dollar.

Amr Adly_ 3-9-2025

Trump, BRICS, and China’s long game

Why accept the Israeli gas deal’s take-or-pay terms?

Urban & Economy_

Israel’s amended gas pact locks Egypt into take-or-pay imports until 2040, raising costs and dependence as local output lags and demand keeps rising.

Mahmoud Salem_ 21-8-2025

Why accept the Israeli gas deal’s take-or-pay terms?

How much have Kamel Al‑Wazir’s loans cost us?

Urban & Economy_

Some of Egypt’s major transport projects took on commercial-rate loans, raising questions about costs, priorities, and long-term debt risks.

Mohamed Ismail_ 19-8-2025

How much have Kamel Al‑Wazir’s loans cost us?

Who can afford a beach house on the ‘wicked coast’?

Urban & Economy_

Skyrocketing property prices on Egypt’s “wicked coast” raise fears of a looming bubble, as Gulf buyers, expats, and elites drive demand beyond most locals’ reach.

Safia Mounir_ 12-8-2025

Who can afford a beach house on the ‘wicked coast’?

The Cairo of gated communities

Urban & Economy_

Behind guarded walls, a new 'Egypt' rises—globalized, affluent, and detached—while the other 'Masr', bears the weight of exclusion, memory, and revolt.

Alaa Khaled_ 7-8-2025

The Cairo of gated communities

Dollar drain: Egypt’s government crowds out the private sector

Urban & Economy_

Egypt’s public sector doubled its dollar borrowing from local banks, squeezing private firms and prompting fresh warnings from the IMF over rising fiscal risks.

Doaa Elsayed_ 4-8-2025

Dollar drain: Egypt’s government crowds out the private sector

Gauging poverty and its impacts

Urban & Economy_

Poverty in Egypt has surged to 35.7%, with rising prices, low wages, and school dropouts deepening inequality. This report examines causes, impacts, and needed reforms.

Elhamy Elmerghany_ 3-8-2025

Gauging poverty and its impacts

2.3 million in debt: Chasing relief in Egypt’s consumer credit boom

Urban & Economy_

With inflation high and incomes strained, millions of Egyptians are turning to consumer credit to meet basic needs—fueling a lending boom that’s as risky as it is necessary.

Safia Mounir_ 20-7-2025

2.3 million in debt: Chasing relief in Egypt’s consumer credit boom

Water, watts, and wealth: The quiet sell-off of essential services

Urban & Economy_

Egypt’s new laws open water and power sectors to private firms, raising debate over pricing, access, and whether essential services should be commodified.

Ahmed Albordeny_ 15-7-2025

Water, watts, and wealth: The quiet sell-off of essential services

The IMF’s half truths

Urban & Economy_

The IMF blames Egypt’s weak private investment on state crowding out—but ignores its own role in fueling instability through interest hikes and austerity.

Amr Adly_ 13-7-2025

The IMF’s half truths

Fast track to privatization: Who’s running Egypt’s trains?

Urban & Economy_

Egypt turns to private operators for its new rail lines, seeking to boost performance and revenue after state-run failures. But what does this mean for commuters?

Mohamed Ismail_ 28-6-2025

Fast track to privatization: Who’s running Egypt’s trains?

Corruption as leverage: How institutional weakness fuels neoliberalism

Urban & Economy_

Institutional weakness isn't a flaw in the neoliberal system—it's a feature. This analysis reveals how lax regulations and the informal economy create a "comparative advantage."

Osama Diab_ 19-6-2025

Corruption as leverage: How institutional weakness fuels neoliberalism

Sayyida Aisha Bridge: a failure easier to blame on the jinn

Urban & Economy_

Dubbed the “Bridge of Death,” Sayyida Aisha Bridge saw decades of crashes, myths, and official denial—until its long-overdue demolition was finally announced.

Mohamed El Kholy_ 8-6-2025

Sayyida Aisha Bridge: a failure easier to blame on the jinn

Sayyida Aisha Bridge: The curse of asphalt in the sky

Urban & Economy_

The cult of the overpass continues to grow, despite the imminent demolition of Sayyida Aisha bridge. Will potential benefits exclude locals in another touristic walkway?

Ezzat Elkamhawi_ 27-5-2025

Sayyida Aisha Bridge: The curse of asphalt in the sky

The hidden toll of Ras El-Hekma

Urban & Economy_

The Ras El-Hekma deal rewarded investors and the state while local Bedouin tribes stand to lose their lands, their social fabric and their traditional ways of living.

Loay Hesham_ 18-5-2025

The hidden toll of Ras El-Hekma

Food company revenues soar as bellies rumble

Urban & Economy_

Egypt's food companies maintain profits against a backdrop of high inflation and finance costs while consumers tighten their belts.

Asmaa Abdel-Alim_ 17-5-2025

Food company revenues soar as bellies rumble

Nasser Social Bank: Boosting profits or helping the poor?

Urban & Economy_

Commercial loans like car financing boost Nasser Social Bank’s profits, but they also compete with its core mission: offering affordable credit to low-income Egyptians.

Eslam Aly_ 13-5-2025

Nasser Social Bank: Boosting profits or helping the poor?

Is the state profiteering from social housing deposits?

Urban & Economy_

The state earns billions in interest from frozen applicant deposits for subsidized housing, while desperate citizens face years-long waits and rejection. Critics question fairness.

Menna Mohamed_ 12-5-2025

Is the state profiteering from social housing deposits?

Beyond corruption, what really holds back Egypt’s economy

Urban & Economy_

Egypt’s economy struggles, but is corruption really to blame? Vietnam, and even China, grew with it. Maybe Egypt’s real problem is something less dramatic

Amr Adly_ 11-5-2025

Beyond corruption, what really holds back Egypt’s economy

Developing Cairo’s downtown à la Mohamed Abdel Wahab

Urban & Economy_

If boosting the real estate value of downtown requires organizing streets, restaurants, and hotels, then respecting the history and urban harmony of the space is no less essential.

Fayrouz Karawya_ 2-5-2025

Developing Cairo’s downtown à la Mohamed Abdel Wahab

A Dose too small for Egypt’s drug industry

Urban & Economy_

As Egypt seeks to localize cancer drug production, soaring import costs and a hesitant banking sector expose the limits of a financing plan already too small to matter.

Eslam Aly_ 2-5-2025

A Dose too small for Egypt’s drug industry

Egypt is no longer my mother!

Urban & Economy_

This isn't a call for despair but an invitation to rethink our approach. We need to adopt radical solutions like redefining our relationship with the global financial system

Mohamed Gad_ 26-4-2025

Egypt is no longer my mother!

Is Egypt about to hit the gas on EVs?

Urban & Economy_

Egypt’s electric car dream is charging ahead—but with rising obstacles and delayed timelines, will the country ever hit full speed on its EV ambitions?

Ahmed Albordeny_ 26-4-2025

Is Egypt about to hit the gas on EVs?