Economy

Our deficit expectations for this year are higher than the government's - we are anticipating the budget deficit to be equivalent to 5.0% of GDP, while the administration is committed... 2004-07-05

Despite the serious public debt problem and the political stalemate between President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, indicators suggest that domestic confidence in... 2004-07-05

We expect real GDP growth of 3.6% this year, rising to 4.5% in 2005, if economic reforms continue. This year our GDP expectations are based on strong performance of the oil sector,... 2004-07-05

Economic growth of 12.4% y-o-y in Q104 surpassed our expectations and puts substantial upside risk to our forecast of 4.7% real GNP growth in 2004. Indeed, although we will review... 2004-07-05

Economic growth in Q104 was, at 12.4% y-o-y much higher than expectations. BMI View: Although the data attests to the strength of the current recovery, domestic demand growth is sucking... 2004-07-01

Our forecast of 1.9% GDP growth this year is predicated on a recovery of high-tech exports and an improvement in private demand. The latest data shows strong exports of US$2.3bn in... 2004-06-10

We were expecting the trade deficit to shrink this year, but anecdotal data for 2004 suggests that this may not be the case. The latest data from the Department of Statistics shows... 2004-06-10

Following the surge in the public subsidies bill, parliament has ratified new taxes, the bulk of which will fall on consumers of services. New legislation imposes duties on cars and... 2004-06-04

BMI View: BMI expects the Egyptian economy to grow at a modest rate of 2.9% in 2004, rising to 3.7% in 2005 and 4.4% in 2006. This remains significantly below the 6.0% expansion that... 2004-05-11

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is expected to have fallen, or remained flat, in March following a surprise 0.2% rise in February. We expect end-year CPI of around 1.8% this year,... 2004-04-20