IMF approves Egypt’s expanded, $8 billion loan program

A general view shows a crowd and shops at Al Ataba, a market in central Cairo. The Gaza crisis, aggravated by Houthi attacks from Yemen on shipping in the Red Sea, has slowed down revenues from tourism and shipping, two of Egypt’s main sources of foreign exchange. (REUTERS/File Photo)
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Updated 30 March 2024
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IMF approves Egypt’s expanded, $8 billion loan program

  • The Gaza crisis has affected Egypt's tourism industry and Houthi attacks on Red Sea vessels has slowed down Suez Canal revenues
  • Tourism and shipping are two of Egypt’s main sources of foreign exchange

CAIRO: Egypt received approval on Friday from the International Monetary Fund’s executive board for an expanded, $8 billion financial support program that enables the immediate release of $820 million, the IMF said in a statement.

The IMF agreed to widen the agreement after Egypt’s wobbly economy was further hurt by the Gaza crisis, which slowed growth in tourism and triggered attacks from Yemen on shipping in the Red Sea, halving Suez Canal revenue. Tourism and shipping are two of Egypt’s main sources of foreign exchange.
“The difficult external environment generated by Russia’s war in Ukraine was subsequently aggravated by the conflict in Gaza and Israel, as well as tensions in the Red Sea,” the IMF statement said.
The agreement expanded on an earlier $3 billion, 46-month Extended Fund Facility signed in December 2022 which was put on hold after Egypt did not follow through on pledges to unpeg its currency, speed up the sale of state assets and implement other reforms.

The expanded agreement was first announced on March 6, when Egypt’s central bank hiked key interest rates by six percentage points and allowed the country’s currency to plummet against the dollar.
“A strong economic stabilization plan is being implemented to correct policy slippages,” the IMF said, focusing on a liberalized foreign exchange system, tightening of fiscal and monetary policy, reduced public investment and greater space for the private sector.
This would include a continued reduction of subsidies, which consume a large portion of government expenditures. Last week Egypt raised prices on a wide range of fuel products.
“It remains essential to replace untargeted fuel subsidies with targeted social spending as part of a sustained fuel price adjustment package,” the IMF statement said.
The IMF also said Egypt had established a new framework to monitor and control public investment that would help manage excess demand, but that the state and military would need to withdraw from economic activity.
“Integrating transparently off-budget investment into macroeconomic policy decision making will be critical,” it added.
Egypt has come under pressure to reduce spending on large public projects, especially a new $60 billion capital it has been building the desert east of Cairo.
Egypt last month agreed to sell the rights to develop prime land at Ras El Hekma on the Mediterranean coast to the United Arab Emirates for $24 billion. This month Egypt also received pledges of $6 billion in financing from the World Bank Group and $8.1 billion from the European Union.
The statement projected that Egypt’s growth would slow to 3 percent in the financial year to end-June 2024 from 3.8 percent in 2022/23, before recovering to about 4.5 percent in 2024/25.


UNRWA chief warns Gaza famine ‘can still be prevented’ as aid access remains blocked

Updated 9 sec ago
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UNRWA chief warns Gaza famine ‘can still be prevented’ as aid access remains blocked

  • Philippe Lazzarini said amount of aid reaching territory “vastly disproportionate” to the scale of crisis

GAZA: The head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees has warned that famine in Gaza remains preventable, but only if there is the political will to act.

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said the amount of aid reaching the territory is “vastly disproportionate” to the scale of the crisis.

“What we are asking for is not impossible,” he said in a press statement on Saturday, urging that UN agencies be allowed to deliver vital assistance and uphold the dignity of those in need.

According to Lazzarini, just 900 aid trucks have entered Gaza over the past two weeks — covering only around 10% of the population’s daily needs. He stressed that preventing famine requires political decisions, not just logistical efforts.

He also called for the full resumption of humanitarian operations, which have largely been suspended since March 2. During the previous ceasefire, UNRWA and its partners had managed to bring in 600 to 800 trucks per day, he noted, underlining that it is feasible to scale up aid if access is granted.

Meanwhile, medical sources in Gaza said at least 60 Palestinians were killed and 284 injured in the past 24 hours amid ongoing fighting. Local health authorities report that since the conflict began in October 2023, 54,381 people have been killed and 124,381 wounded, with women and children making up the majority of casualties.

Since hostilities resumed on March 18, following a two-month truce, a further 4,117 people have been killed and 12,013 injured, the same sources added.


Kurdish delegation heads to Damascus for talks

A Syrian looks out of a window in his destroyed house in Hama province. (AFP)
Updated 23 min 7 sec ago
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Kurdish delegation heads to Damascus for talks

  • The March agreement states that the Kurds are an “essential component of the Syrian state,” guaranteeing the “right to citizenship and all ... constitutional rights.”

DAMASCUS: A delegation from northeast Syria’s semi-autonomous Kurdish administration was headed to Damascus on Saturday for talks on implementing a March deal to integrate Kurdish institutions into the state, a member of the delegation said.
Under the agreement signed by Syria’s interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurds are to integrate their civil and military institutions into the national government.
The deal includes all border crossings, oil and gas fields, and a regional airport.
A member of the Kurdish delegation said that “a delegation from the autonomous administration is on the way to Damascus to discuss” details of the March deal.
Despite the accord, the Kurds have criticized a constitutional declaration announced by the new authorities, who took power after ousting Bashar Assad in December, and said the new government failed to reflect the Syrian Arab Republic’s diversity.
Last month, Syrian Kurdish parties adopted a joint vision of a “decentralized democratic state,” a move rejected by Damascus, which warned against attempts at separatism or federalism by the minority group.
The March agreement states that the Kurds are an “essential component of the Syrian state,” guaranteeing the “right to citizenship and all ... constitutional rights.”
Syria’s Kurds suffered marginalization and repression under Assad’s rule, being deprived of the right to speak their language and celebrate their holidays and, in many cases, of Syrian nationality.
Earlier this month, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani warned that delaying the implementation of the deal would “prolong the chaos” in the country.
In an interview broadcast by Shams TV, based in Irbil in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region, SDF chief Abdi said that “we are committed to what was agreed with Damascus and we are currently working on implementing this agreement.”
He emphasized the need for a “decentralized Syria where all its components live with their full rights and nobody is excluded.”
But he accused Syria’s new authorities of wanting centralization and of “not being ready for everyone to live in Syria.”
Kurdish-led forces took control of much of Syria’s northeast, including its oil fields, during the country’s civil war and the Daesh insurgency.
With support from a US-led international coalition, the Kurdish-led SDF played a key role in Daesh’s territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.
Abdi said all Syrians should benefit from Syria’s oil wealth but said the Kurds wanted “an autonomous administration to govern locally and for the people of the area to manage security and political institutions.”

 


Hamas seeks changes in US Gaza proposal; Witkoff calls response ‘unacceptable’

Updated 7 min 42 sec ago
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Hamas seeks changes in US Gaza proposal; Witkoff calls response ‘unacceptable’

  • “This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,” Hamas said
  • Witkoff wrote in a posting on X: “It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward”

CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but President Donald Trump’s envoy rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable.”

The Palestinian militant group said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. But Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, conditions Israel has rejected.

A Hamas official described the group’s response to the proposals from Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “positive” but said it was seeking some amendments. The official did not elaborate on the changes being sought by the group.

“This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.

The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.

A Palestinian official familiar with the talks told Reuters that among amendments Hamas is seeking is the release of the hostages in three phases over the 60-day truce and more aid distribution in different areas. Hamas also wants guarantees the deal will lead to a permanent ceasefire, the official said.

There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to the Hamas statement.

Israel has previously rejected Hamas’ conditions, instead demanding the complete disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.

Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close after the latest proposals, and the White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the terms.


Saying he had received Hamas’ response, Witkoff wrote in a posting on X: “It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.”

On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief on May 13, confirming what Netanyahu said earlier this week.

Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel, was the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death.

The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on Saturday it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.

The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.

Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.

On Saturday, aid groups said dozens of World Food Programme trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people desperate for food after weeks of mounting hunger.

“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” the WFP said in a statement.


Norway warns Israel’s actions in Gaza risk setting dangerous global precedent

Updated 31 May 2025
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Norway warns Israel’s actions in Gaza risk setting dangerous global precedent

  • Norway’s international development minister Asmund Aukrust said Gaza crisis was eroding principles that protect civilians everywhere

LONDON: Israel’s conduct in Gaza is undermining international law and fueling a wider global threat, Norway’s international development minister has said, warning that the use of tactics such as blocking aid and targeting humanitarian groups could become a grim new norm in future conflicts.

“For the last one and a half years we have seen very low respect for international law in the war in Gaza and in recent months it is worse than ever before,” Asmund Aukrust said.

“So for the Norwegian government it is very important to protest against this, to condemn this very clear violation,” he added.

Aukrust said that the crisis was not only deepening suffering in Gaza but eroding principles that protect civilians everywhere, The Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.

“We are very concerned that there will be a new international standard where food is used as a weapon, where the UN is denied entrance to the war and conflict zone, and other NGOs are denied entrance,” he said.

“And Israel is building up something they call Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is to militarise humanitarian aid.”

The GHF, supported by Israel and the US, began food distribution in Gaza this week. Israeli forces said that they fired “warning shots” at a center during chaotic scenes, while local health authorities reported one civilian killed and dozens injured.

A UN-led review earlier this month found all 2.1 million residents of Gaza at critical risk of famine, with 500,000 already in catastrophic conditions.

“We are afraid and very concerned that this might be a new standard in international law and this will make the world a lot more dangerous to all of us,” Aukrust said.

Asked whether Israel’s actions amounted to genocide, Aukrust said that was a matter for international courts, not politicians.

“Genocide is the worst crime a country can do and the worst crime that politicians can do and this should not be polarized,” he said.

He insisted that dialogue must remain open, even with groups such as Hamas, and stressed Norway’s long-term commitment to Gaza’s recovery.

“We have no limitation of who we are talking to. I would say the opposite. We would be happy to, and we want to, talk with those who are responsible, whether it is Israel, Hamas or others,” he said.

“Dialogue is the most important word when it comes to peacemaking and we want to have an open line with all countries, all groups that might have an influence here,” he added.

Norway, which recognized the Palestinian state in May, has long played a mediating role in the region, including hosting the 1993 Oslo Accords. Aukrust said that recognition was meant “to send out a message of hope.”

The country’s sovereign wealth fund, which is the world’s largest, has already blacklisted 11 companies for aiding Israel’s occupation, though Aukrust stressed decisions on investments are made by the bank, not politicians.

“The bank decides where they want to invest. What the politicians do is to decide the rules,” he said. The rules, he added, were “very clear” that the fund should not invest in anything that contributed to a violation of international law.

The Norwegian parliament is expected to vote next week against a proposal to block the fund from investing in firms operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Aukrust urged people across Europe to keep up pressure and stay engaged, adding: “As long as the war is going on, from the Norwegian government side we will all the time look into what more can we do. What new initiative can we take. How can we send an even clearer message to those who are responsible for this.”


Moroccan women embroider ‘art with purpose’

Updated 31 May 2025
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Moroccan women embroider ‘art with purpose’

  • Several hunch over large canvasses, embroidering their latest piece at the women-only workshop, in the village of 400 people
  • Some of their works have been shown internationally

SIDI RBAT, Morocco: In a small village on the coast of southern Morocco, women gather in a house to create collaborative works of textile art, and also earn a living.

Several hunch over large canvasses, embroidering their latest piece at the women-only workshop, in the village of 400 people. Some of their works have been shown internationally.

“This project has changed my life,” said Hanane Ichbikili, a 28-year-old former nursing student turned project creative director.

“And yet I had never held an embroidery needle before,” she told AFP.

Just 19 percent of Moroccan women hold steady jobs, according to official figures, and in rural areas they are particularly affected by poverty, unpaid labor and a lack of opportunity.

An artist with roots in both Morocco and France has tried to make a difference.

Margaux Derhy founded the workshop in 2022 in her father’s native village of Sidi R’bat, around 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Agadir, to fulfil her “dream to make art with purpose.”

The project uses textiles and old photographs to explore her family heritage before they left the country in the 1960s, turning sepia-toned portraits and scenes into large silk-and-linen canvases.

The North African country was a protectorate of France before gaining its independence in 1956.

The project is more than just personal for Derhy — it also provides local women in the small fishing village employment.

“I wanted to be engaged on the ground,” said Derhy, adding that she hired 10 local women to work full-time for a monthly salary exceeding Morocco’s private-sector minimum wage of 3,045 dirhams ($330).

The women’s hands glide over frames that were once used by Paris’s prestigious Maison Lesage, the world-famous embroidery house that has worked with some of the greatest names in fashion.

The creative process is collaborative, with Derhy drawing an outline and the team then gathering to choose the threads and color palette for each section.

A canvas can take up to five months to complete.

The finished works, priced at up to $5,620, have been shown in exhibitions in Marrakech, Paris and Brussels. Future exhibits are planned for Casablanca’s L’Atelier 21 and Tabari Artspace Gallery in Dubai.

The workshop has also helped to challenge perceived ideas about women in the village.

“At first, some of the women had to hide to come because it was frowned upon,” said Khadija Ahuilat, 26, who oversees operations.

She said some people thought the project “was nonsense, and a woman should stay at home.”

“But we managed to change that. I’m very proud to have contributed to this change, even if on a small scale.”

Her mother, Aicha Jout, 50, a widow who once gathered mussels and raised livestock to support her family, is now one of the embroiderers.

“It changes a lot for me to be here,” she said.

“I love the idea of embroidering on pictures, but also of passing on the craft to other women.”

Jout learned to embroider at the age of 12, and has trained the rest of her mostly single or widowed colleagues.

“There aren’t really a lot of job opportunities here, so when the chance came I didn’t hesitate for a second,” said Haddia Nachit, 59, one of the workshop’s most efficient embroiders.

Her nickname among the women is “TGV” — after France’s high-speed train.

Seated next to Nachit, Fadma Lachgar, also 59, said the work allowed her to help her family.

“Resuming embroidery at my age, after 20 years of stopping, is a blessing,” she said.