Rates have not changed for the third time since the African country’s apex bank signed an USD 8 billion financial support agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on March 6, when it hiked rates by 600 basis points (bps).

One analyst predicted a 100 basis point drop in rates, while the other fifteen analysts surveyed by Reuters recently predicted that rates would stay unchanged.

“With the gradual easing of previous shocks, inflationary pressures continued to subside, as annual headline and core inflation edged downward for the fifth consecutive month,” the central bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) wrote in a statement accompanying the decision.

The conflict in Gaza, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the coronavirus have all taken a toll on Egypt’s already fragile economy. For the first time since January 2022, the real interest rate increased as inflation fell to 25.7% in July 2024.

After reaching an all-time high of 38% in September, inflation started to decline gradually. In the coming days, August inflation data is expected.

“Domestically, real GDP growth softened to 2.2% in Q1 2024 compared to 2.3% in Q4 2023. The softening is driven by declining public contribution to economic activity due to the impact of Red Sea maritime trade disruption on the service sector,” the MPC said further.

According to the MPC, inflation would sharply drop in the first quarter of 2025 and economic growth would progressively rebound in the fiscal year that started on July 1.

“The gradual unwinding of food inflation along with the improvement of inflation expectations suggest that inflation is currently on a downward trajectory,” it said.

Talking about Egypt’s fight against inflation, the phenomenon is forecast to have declined for a sixth month in August 2024, helped by a favourable base effect. However, some analysts say it is likely to have increased month on month after a series of government-led price hikes.

One of the conditions of the financial support pact signed between Egypt and the IMF was to make the African nation increase domestic prices. The government as a result has raised the cost of many subsidised products to battle a budget deficit that hit 505 billion Egyptian pounds (USD 10.3 billion) in the fiscal year that ended on June 30.

According to the forecasts of 19 analysts, annual urban consumer inflation slowed to a median of 25.1% in August from 25.7% in July.

“We expect urban inflation to decelerate to 24.9% y-o-y for August on a favourable base effect. However, we anticipate a 1.0% m-o-m increase on the recent energy and transportation cost hikes at the beginning of August,” said Heba Mounir of HC Securities, while interacting with Reuters.

Naeem Holding, which forecast annual headline inflation of 24.8%, predicted an increase of 1.24% month on month from July. This was due to higher summer produce prices, fuel hikes of 10-15% near the end of July, a 25-33% jump in metro tickets at the beginning of August and a 21-31% increase in electricity tariffs.

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This news was announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin just hours before the announcement of some tough restrictions made in order to stop the spread of this deadly virus. The latest wave is the worst case of infection the country has seen since the start of this pandemic. He told the media, “As I have stressed before, the closure of economic sectors will have a huge impact on the nation’s economy and the lives of the public. I want to be frank that the government has limited fiscal space to spend at this moment. Nonetheless, the government will do its utmost to ensure a balance between lives and livelihood and ensure opportunities to earn a living for your beloved families.”

The stimulus is called Pemerkasa Plus, and it includes RM2.1 billion in cash aid of up to RM2,500 for households that have a monthly income of RM5,000 or less. The latest lockdown will allow only 17 economic sectors to operate with a strict work-from-home rule set by the government. Reports stated that 1,000 people died in May alone, with over 160,000 new patients reported.

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In a statement filed at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Ping An Insurance said, “Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, Ping An experienced difficulties in offline business development and rising risks in retail consumer finance in 2020.”

Ping An Insurance’s total investment income from its life and health insurance businesses, which accounts for the bulk of its profits, increased by 4.5 percent to ¥182.5 billion, versus ¥175 billion a year ago.

According to Switzerland-based insurance company Swiss Re, China will drive the recovery of the global insurance market in the coming years. The insurer in its report said that premiums in China will grow at an estimated rate of 10 percent in non-life business and by 8.5 percent in the life business next year.

The report, titled ‘Rebuilding better: global economic and insurance market outlook 2021/22’, which was published last year, also points out that the global premium volume is set to decline by 1.4 percent this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, they are expected to grow by 3.4 percent in 2021 and by 3.3 percent in 2022.

A report published last year by UK-based data and analytics company GlobalData said that China’s general insurance industry is forecasted to grow at a rate of 3.8 percent in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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According to the Dubai Land Department (DLD), transactions worth over Dh60 billion took place in 2020 of which 20,716 were residential sales transactions worth Dh27.2 billion. Secondary residential sales in Dubai hit a 7-year high in November 2020. During the period, 3,928 transactions worth $2 billion were recorded in the emirate.

According to real estate website Property Finder, the top areas for secondary apartment sales in November 2020 were Dubai Marina, Business Bay, Barsha Heights (Tecom), Downtown Dubai and Jumeirah Village Circle. The top areas for secondary villa/townhouse sales were Green Community, Arabian Ranches, Town Square, Nadd Al Sheba and Dubai Hills Estate.

Lynnette Abad, director of research and data at Property Finder told the media, “This year, no one ever expected for the market to rebound the way it has. November 2020 has broken records in the secondary market that stood for over six and a half years.

“It will be interesting to see what happens in [the first half of 2021] as these numbers are not sustainable. However, with Expo 2020 coming, we could potentially see a surge in the numbers as demand will be there from foreign investments.”

Property prices in Dubai declined 0.9 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2020, its central bank said. Rents also declined by 6.9 percent during the period. The implied rental yield in Dubai moved to 6.6 percent in the third quarter, up from 6.3 percent in the previous quarter.

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For Latin America, there has been an influx of investments in digital and other high technology businesses, making it a ripe market for telecom and subsea cables. It is observed that there has been a technology boom in the region with increasing data centres, telecom, fintech and ecommerce companies attracting high investments, especially in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Even governments across those nations have adopted new ways to increase investments. But the last one year has been truly challenging for the telecom industry despite the market growth. This has in fact stoked curiosity on how telcos are performing and what are the factors underpinning their performance during the pandemic. 

Latin America and the Caribbean telecom and multichannel companies are taking measures to ease the pulsating effects of the pandemic, while continuing to offer stable facilities for customers. Chilean companies, for example, are making a headway in the region, by following a series of government-backed measures that seek to avoid service interruptions for those affected by the economic downturn. 

Last year, S&P published a research which shows that the pandemic could have a lasting impact on operator revenues between 2.6 percent and 14.2 percent drop. But this was largely dependent on the intensity and duration of lockdown measures. Chile, being one of the hardest hit economies in Latin America, as well as the most connected with multichannel penetration, has developed a solidarity plan to keep 40 percent of the nation’s households well-connected. 

Again, the region’s most populous market Brazil has developed a series of measures to keep the telecom industry operating during the pandemic. One of the measures includes an agreement with the largest telecom companies to address various challenges faced by customers who were unable to pay their overdue bills in installments. Along with those measures, some state governments have established partnerships with mobile carriers to use anonymous location data collected from mobile devices to monitor crowds. In fact, the Ministry for Science, Technology, Information and Communications had devised a plan to develop the project nationwide, but it was not carried out fully owing to privacy concerns. 

Subsea cables are of utmost importance to Latin America’s economic growth and are expected to require over $1 billion in new investment over the next five years. In fact, the transition to 5G wireless cables will require a dramatic increase in new subsea cable construction in the region. By numbers, 90 percent of subsea cables have been developed and financed by consortia, where each owner brings their own financing. On the global front, the subsea cable market is estimated to be worth $22 billion by 2025, which has more than doubled from 2019, and might reach an estimated $30.4 billion by 2027. These subsea cables have also been financed by large commercial banks, multilateral development banks and export credit agencies that are linked to key equipment supplies and private equity funds among others. 

Last June, numerous subsea cable projects were underway in Latin America. The development is not only stemming from 5G, but also the current technology boom and steady growth in the use of bandwidth, data, internet connections and telecom subscriptions. By practice, telecom subsea cables are constructed between locations with significant communications traffic. For example, Chile and Brazil already house prominent data centres and investments from major technology companies are forming major hubs in Latin America. 

There was an obvious forecast that Latin America’s telecom service revenue in 2020 would significantly decline due to the pandemic, and stabilise between 2021 and 2025. With that, the key focus of this interview is to explore and understand the telecom industry in Latin America—which also points to the dynamics of the industry before and during the coronavirus pandemic. 

GoldConnect was established as a wholesale telecom provider in Latin America and the Carribean. The intriguing part of this establishment was that it took place just at the right time when connectivity challenges in the region had increased and several companies were unable to meet their consumer needs. The company is anticipated to meet customers demands through wholesale connectivity. GoldConnect has already evolved as a leading telecom provider in Latin America and the Carribean, demonstrating a defined presence in 17 countries. Justo Valladares, CEO of GoldConnect, in an interview with International Finance, provides insights into the company’s growing regional presence and its continued work in uplifting the telecom industry. 

GoldConnect is found to have a strong presence in the Latam telecom market. What is the length of its growing influence on the market as a disruptive connectivity provider? 

GoldConnect started in 2011 with our legal name Gold Telecom Inc., to support global carriers in five countries where we have our network infrastructure. Today, we call it a hybrid network because we not only focus on our assets, but also on every other country in Latin America and the Caribbean through our extended reach with over 100 partners, 172 PoPs and capacity in more than 12 subsea cable systems.

What is the value proposition of GoldConnect and how does it add to Latin America’s comprehensive telecom service portfolio? 

We are embracing technology as much as we can, from quoting to the service experience. Our internal SLA is to support our clients from a couple of hours to 48 hours tops. We are a customer-centric organization. Our DNA is always to be fast, transparent, customer-centric and innovative. If we follow this, we will make a significant impact on the market.

How is GoldConnect forging its industry experience into one of the most advanced and innovative wholesale connectivity businesses? 

We have developed multiple platforms to disrupt the purchasing process in the wholesale business. Our platform has more than 20 million on-net and near-net buildings that we can search in a matter of minutes for our clients. We have access to KMZ files right at our fingertips and multiple diversity options. It has taken years of development to compile the details across the region.

Why is the partnership with Mosaic NetworX considered to be a historic deal and how will it impact the bottom line of the agent/partner community? 

We looked for a strategic partner to be an expert in the US Agent community and with a similar mission. Mosaic’s incredible reputation supporting the partner ecosystem is impressive. Combining our knowledge and automation to Latin America makes it a unique partnership to provide real options for agents in the US.

What are the implications of the Mosaic NetworX-GoldConnect partnership for opening an entirely new set of capacity sales opportunities that were previously not available in the Caribbean and Latam? 

Now, we are empowering agents to succeed in the challenging and underserved Latin American market by enabling them to support Latin America and the Caribbean bids with confidence, full support and information to cover every aspect of their project. Now, agents have full access to wholesale capabilities, which is relatively new for the agent community.

How has the Latin America telecom market progressed over the years and how conducive is the environment for existing and new players? 

Latin America and the Caribbean remain one of the most challenging markets with very different regulations and economies to consider. Prices vary significantly between countries and reliable technology options are limited. GoldConnect filters and overcomes all those challenges for customers. We have all the data in our platform to provide reliable and complete information.

What are the persistent gaps in the telecom industry that GoldConnect has identified and seeks to address in the future? 

As stated earlier, Latin America and the Caribbean are very challenging markets. The fact that you can provide complete information with competitive pricing about any project in a matter of hours is a testament to embracing automation to provide an exceptional customer experience. We understand the importance of balancing automation and personalised support. This is why we remain fully engaged with our clients through every process while we pay attention to details so our clients can concentrate on their business while we focus on the rest.

What are GoldConnect’s plans for the future in its key markets: Latin America and the Caribbean? 

Latin America and the Caribbean are our markets by nature. We plan to add new solutions and services in the region and continue enabling new customer modules on our platforms. Our objective is to complement our customer’s business strategy in everything they may need. This is one of the reasons  that some of our biggest customers are Latin American carriers.

On a close note, the company is recognised to be a disruptive connectivity provider and it relies on its fully owned, network infrastructure. It has built extensive partnerships to provide network solutions, cloud connection, data center services and network security in more than 40 countries in the region. 

With that, it is clear that Latin America is prime for telecom developments. Brazil, especially, is expected to flourish in the telecom industry, with its recent developments. Last February, the country revised its telecom legislation to facilitate market fluidity. It has one of the largest mobile markets in Latin America, and several changes to its market dynamics were expected to take place last year.  Chile, on the other hand, is also known for its advancements in telecom, with a modern infrastructure supporting a host of services in fixed-line and mobile sectors. In 2019, it was reported that one-third of Chile’s telecom investments have been put in the wireless market. 

However, a lot is to be seen with the disruptions caused by the pandemic. Experts from around the region believe there are huge opportunities on the horizon using technology in the post-pandemic setting. In August, an IDC survey found that 41 percent of telco participants said they would invest in technology to close the digital gap; 23 percent said they would invest in technology to mitigate recession; 17 percent said they would invest in technology to expand their market share. Only 1 percent of the respondents said they would avoid acquiring new technology in the remaining part of 2020. However, 31 percent of respondents provided startled responses that they would accept the risks of adopting a new technology to increase their competitiveness. 

For years, telcos in the region have been working with technology providers. For example, it is found that big data and analytics gives telcos the power to access customer interaction data from CRM platforms and call centres. This in turn helps them to understand customer pain points and develop remedial measures to build positive experience. However, policy makers and service providers will need to develop a new paradigm to optimise integration and growth in  the region. This move will allow the business enterprises to expand into areas outside urban centres in Latin America, such as Buenos Aires, Santiago and São Paulo. Additionally, the paradigm shift will also bring new opportunities to the industry—integrating policies into a single regional framework. 

Reinstating the fact that subsea cables have become important to the region also reflects the industry’s growth trajectory over the years. For the Americas, development of subsea cables have been quite prominent and steady, with four cable systems that went into service in 2017, and five cable systems were put into service in 2019. But that’s not all. Eight more cable systems were expected to move into service in 2020, and the new cable systems even included connections in Latin America. Interestingly, a new trans-Atlantic cable service has been built each year over the past five years. Chile, for example, is collaborating with Japan to build a trans-Pacific cable designating Australia and New Zealand as endpoints. It is reported that at least one new trans-Pacific cable was built each year between 2016 through 2019, while eight new projects are planned through 2022.  In short, the future of Latin America’s telecom industry is poised for growth—and it could have a direct impact on the economy.

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The UAE Central Bank has forecasted that the economy will grow by around 2.5 percent overall after falling by around six percent in 2020. The non-oil sectors are expected to post a 3.6 percent growth, after shrinking by five percent last year.

The World Bank forecasts that the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s economy will contract by 4.5 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown measures introduced to counter it. The World Bank also forecasted that the economy will pick up next year and will grow at a rate of 1.4 percent. This will be attributed to the growth of the non-oil sector after the restrictions will be eased.

The Global Economic Prospects 2020 report by World Bank projected a 4.2 percent contraction for the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in 2020 and 2.3 percent growth this year.

In its report, the World Bank said, “Oil exporters have been adversely impacted by the plunge in oil prices and Covid-19 outbreaks, while oil importers are experiencing spillovers from the weakness in advanced economies and major emerging markets, pandemic mitigation measure-related disruptions, and an expected drop-off in tourism.”

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This fiber infrastructure supports PLDT’s mobile unit Smart’s mobile networks, which is available in around 95 percent of the country’s cities and towns. Last year, the telco raised around $600 million in a fully-online investment roadshow. Back then, the telco revealed that it will use the funds to refinance its existing loans and also pay for network upgrades.

PLDT announced that it has set the terms of its 10-year and 30-year bonds—the latter representing a landmark issuance for a non-government entity in the Philippines. The notes were priced at a fixed rate of 2.5 percent and 3.45 percent, respectively, and payable semi-annually.

Philippines-based telecom operator Dito Telecommunity has revealed it is planning to launch in the country by March this year. The telco also said it is confident it will pass the government technical audit which is due this year.

The telco earlier planned to launch at the beginning of last year; however, the plan was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Dito, which is a joint venture between Udenna Group and China Telecom, is looking to clear the technical audit during January 2021, its chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said.

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According its chief executive officer Eng Aik Meng, the company could expand in specialties such as oncology, cardiology, orthopaedics, dental, aesthetics and dermatology. In Malaysia, TE Asia Healthcare runs the Beacon Hospital for oncology, Cardiac Vascular Sentral Kuala Lumpur for cardiology, and it is transforming HSC Medical Centre in Ampang into a specialty orthopaedic centre.

He told the media, “Our strategy is to establish single-specialty hospitals that bring clinician expertise and healthcare operators together to deliver efficient and high-quality care. Having successfully developed specialty hospitals in cardiology, oncology and orthopaedics in the last three years, we will continue to explore other specialties in Malaysia – as the country has an aging population, rising affluence and increasing life expectancy – driving stronger demand for specialty services.”

Last week, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a nationwide travel ban and a 14 day lockdown in the capital and five states, as the country sees a surge in coronavirus cases. Health officials say the current wave of infections that started in September could see daily cases grow to as many as 8,000 by May if strict curbs are not imposed. The Prime Minister even said that the healthcare system in the country is at a breaking point.

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Chief executive officer Nguyen Hoang Phuong told the media, “Be Group understands that ebanking will not simply stop at a new payment method, but it will also encompass a new technology that can be integrated into our everyday lives through essential devices.”

According to Be Group, digital bank Cake will have access to over 10 million customers, nearly a third of the Vietnamese ride-hailing market. Meanwhile, the digital bank claims its online know-your-customer (KYC) system would enable users to utilise digital signatures to verify their transactions.

According to statistics from the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS), online payments in Vietnam has grown by 76 percent between January 25 and mid-March in 2020, amid the lockdown measures introduced to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Back then, Nguyen Chien Thang, director of the digital banking centre at the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), revealed banks are also integrating new technology solutions to better serve their customers during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to local media reports, transaction value through digital channels at Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) by the end of the first quarter of 2020 increased by 25 percent, while the number of online transactions increased by 50 percent compared to the same period last year.

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Speaking to the House of Commons Treasury Committee, Bailey said the deal was broadly in line with what the BOE forecast in November. He said, “You’re right that the OBR, and indeed our model if you let it play out, because it affects a very long run, because of the way in which the real side of the economy adjusts – that something around 3 to 4 percent for this sort of deal is probably right.”

According to forecasts compiled by the Treasury, economists expect the UK GDP to expand by an average of 5.4 percent this year. Meanwhile, the Bank of  England forecasts an economic growth rate of 7.25 percent in 2021.

A survey carried out by the Financial Times revealed that it will take at least 18 months for the UK economy to return to its pre-pandemic size and its recovery will lag behind that of its peers. More than 90 leading economists took part in the survey and they concluded that the UK’s economy will not regain its previous levels until the end of 2022.

Bronwyn Curtis, chair of JP Morgan Asian Growth and Income said that since the UK has already started with the vaccination programme, the economy could open up earlier and therefore recover more quickly than other G7 countries. Similarly, David Innes, head of economics at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity, noted that the recovery could be relatively quick due to increasing savings among US households.

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