AUC / Stanford Professor Joel Beinin, a leading expert on the Egyptian labor movement, has an article about the wave of strikes in Egypt over the past two years in the wonderfully designed magazine Waghett Nazar, a kind of Egyptian New York of Review of Books (only better looking). PDF link below.
WN 2008-07 Beinin.pdf

Egyptian health officials have been gearing up for anti-smoking campaign for a few months, and a few weeks ago new warning labels appeared on the humble Masri pack of Cleopatras and other local and international brands. It’s a big marketing shift in a country of permanent smokers where the state-owned monopoly cigarette manufacturer, Oriental Tobacco, [...]

For those who might be interested, I just did a story on the (continuing) bread crisis for the radio program The World.
In my visits to Cairo bakeries last week, I was amused and a bit disconcerted to see to what extent the bread shortage has already become a “sensitive” issue–one that gets enfolded, as [...]

Too busy to blog right now, but you should definitely watch this and follow the coverage of the growing crisis over bread shortages in Egypt:

Also read:
FT.com / In depth - Egypt weighs cost of daily bread
Al-Ahram Weekly | Economy | Fuelling rumours and discontent
BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Egyptians hit by rising [...]

The Lebanese authorities, like every country, issue out statistics on various economic indicators. Below is the chart that shows the number of employment permits issued for various professions between 2003 and 2005. Click to get a bigger image and look at under “specialized professions,” where there is a category for “knight.” A holdover from the [...]

Hossam has updates on the latest blue collar workers’ strike in Mahalla al-Kubra, the heart of Egypt’s textile industry, where some 10,000 have taken to the street to demand a new national minimum wage:

Only one day before the convening of the National Council for Wages (the govt entity in charge of setting the minimum wage, [...]

As part of a new series on youth and religion, the New York Times ran an article today on young people in Egypt. The article, by Michael Slackman, basically argues that economic and social frustration and the inability to get married at a young age has driven many to become more pious:

The despair [...]

Here’s another chapter in the bizarre relationship between North Korea and Egypt. I understand it all begun when North Korea effectively ran Egypt’s air force (at least in Upper Egypt) around 1970, later sold scud missiles and related services, in 1989 built a war panorama, but also furnished Cairo with some of its best foreign [...]

It takes one of EgyptAir’s European offices more than three months to issue a simple refund (including what I thought were attempts to keep the money).
If it continues to refuse improving its services, the airline will be swept away by competition once Egyptian civil aviation is liberalized (which is why that hasn’t happened yet, but [...]

Finally, Nassef Sawiris has moved out of the shadow of his brothers who made a lot of headlines with their emerging markets telecoms empire (Naguib) and Swiss alpine village (Samih), while Nassef’s Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) maintained such a low profile it could (reportedly) do business with the Pentagon and North Korea at the [...]

From a recent report by the Carnegie Endowment:

As a result of reform efforts, and over the past three years, Egypt has managed to stabilize the economy, increase foreign currency reserves, and achieve steady growth. Reform programs have introduced effective amendments in the social contract between the state, market, and society. Yet little if any progress [...]

German scholar Thomas Demmelhuber recently presented an interesting paper on Egyptian-Chinese economic relationships at the German Orientalists Day in Freiburg, Germany.
These are the main points:
The rise of Egyptian-Chinese economic relations needs to be seen in the context of the Nazif cabinet which took office in 2004 and tries to orientate the Egyptian economy towards foreign [...]

The WSJ is running an interview with Robert Zoellick, the new president of the World Bank,in which Zoellick’s idea of increasing the Bank’s focus on the Arab world is explored, albeit briefly. The impression I get from the interview excerpts below is that Zoellick is very much informed by his experience as US Trade Representative [...]

Freer markets but unfree minds in Egypt: decent Rami Khouri column, but I’m not sure where he gets his info about job creation from. There has been some, but not “millions” and certainly not enough to make a difference.

Moroccan Unrest Over Bread Price:
CASABLANCA, Morocco — Violent protests over the cost of bread prompted the Moroccan government to annul a 30 percent price hike linked to soaring global grain costs.
Protesters clashed with police, cars were torched and buildings damaged in the demonstrations Sunday in Sefrou, 120 miles east of the capital Rabat. Some 300 [...]

Hossam is writing a lot today about a massive strike taking place at Ghazl el-Mahalla, apparently the biggest such strike at a major textile factory since the beginning of the year. He has videos and complains the issue is not getting international press coverage. From an activist’s account:
After the first day of the strike and [...]

One of the interesting things that has come out of the recent rumors that Mubarak was on death’s door is that, for the first time publicly at least, a link is being made between presidential succession in Egypt and investor confidence. Quite aside from ordinary Egyptians on Facebook or newspaper editors, this is now an [...]

Is it just me or do banks, hedge funds and other financial companies always cry out against government intervention, except when they need a bail-out or central banks to intervene in the markets to restore stability after their irresponsible unfettered speculation blows up in their face? Just asking.

I am skeptical about this news piece in Masri al-Youm saying the price of “shami” and “fino” bread will double. Has this been confirmed anywhere?

I have this article on qantara.de on the WWII mines and other ammunition left behind on Egypt’s North coast. The Egyptian government wants to re-launch its efforts to clear the zones that are affected, but wants to have it all paid for by its international donors.
As Egypt has brought to perfection the art of [...]