Business

Egypt working to lure new tourists as war cuts off Russians, Ukrainians

Published

2 years ago

10/03/2022

MNN

Before the war, Russia and Ukraine were Egypt’s two most lucrative markets, and officials say Cairo is exploring ways to attract Russians via third countries such as Türkiye if sanctions allow.

Egypt is exploring new ways to lure tourists after conflict cut off Russia and Ukraine, two of its most lucrative markets, including possibly bringing Russians through third countries if sanctions allowed, its deputy tourism minister has said.

“Those were our two biggest markets with no doubt, and both are hit,” Ghada Shalaby said.

“Of course, it is a major loss” of revenue.

Egypt has been working at increasing tourists from Western Europe, including Britain, Germany, Spain, France and Italy, as well as Hungary and Gulf Arab countries, especially ahead of Ramadan and Easter next month, she told Reuters news agency.

One concern is the increase in fuel prices since Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24, making flights and tourism packages more expensive, Shalaby said.

Tourism earned Egypt $2.8 billion in the three months to end-September, the most recent figure available, according to central bank data. Egypt does not release figures for the number of tourists or the amount of revenue earned from individual countries.

One option to attract Russians might be to allow them to come via Türkiye, Shalaby said.

“That’s one of the options that we’re looking at, but it’s not the only one. Our colleagues at civil aviation are studying all the opportunities towards this sanctions situation, and we’re looking to hear some positive news.”

Nearly 20,000 Ukrainians stranded in Egypt

In the meantime, Egypt has been receiving empty flights from Russia to bring home Russian tourists stuck in Egypt.

It has also been offering Ukrainians stranded in Egypt passage to Poland, Hungary, or countries that have opened their borders to Ukrainians.

Some of these were on Egyptian flights headed to countries bordering Ukraine to pick up Egyptian students who had fled from the conflict.

Up to 20,000 Ukrainian tourists in Egypt had been stranded by the conflict, mostly at resorts on the Red Sea, Ukraine’s ambassador to Cairo said last week.

Source: TRT World

Business

BML announce new MVR 1-mil loan facility without collateral

Published

9 hours ago

06/05/2024

The Bank of Maldives (BML) on Monday officially announced the launch of two new home loan products; the Home Build Loan and the Home Equity Loan.

The new loan facilities have been introduced to cater to the growing customer needs for home construction and renovation, BML said.

The new Home Build Loan has been designed to allow individuals to borrow up to MVR 1 million without any additional security. The facility provides a repayment period of over 15 years, which is ideal in renovation projects or larger home construction projects across the Maldives.

The bank also, for the first time, has introduced Home Equity Loan for existing Home Loan and Financing customers. This new facility enables these customers to borrow up to the repaid amount, or the usable equity, of the primary loans. The Home Equity Loan is offered for borrowings of more than MVR 50,000 with a repayment period of 20 years.

Moosa Nimal, the Director of Retail and SME Banking said, “These products are designed to make access to finance easier for our customers across the country.”

“The new Home Build Loan does not require any additional security and will allow customers to build or renovate homes at the most competitive market rates. Our Home Equity Loan offers our existing home financing customers to access usable equity available on their property, at a low rate of just 10%.”

The newly introduced loan facilities are available for BML Islamic customers as well.

Source(s): sun.mv

Business

MIB signs an agreement to expedite business registration process

Published

2 days ago

04/05/2024

Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) has entered an agreement, aiming to expedite and streamline the registering services for businesses. The agreement was signed to enhance the quality of services, ensure information security, and facilitate an efficient registration process.

Following the signing of the agreement, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mohamed Saeed disclosed that customer data can be readily verified with the assistance of the ministry’s Application Programming Interface (API). The minister stated that this would enable businesses to set up bank accounts in a convenient manner. Regarding this, Registrar of Companies Mariyam Waheed underscored the pivotal role API will play in authenticating businesses to customers and expediting in the verification process.

This initiative will significantly benefit individuals accessing online services from the ministry, fostering economic development within the nation. This marks the first agreement of its kind signed by the ministry.

Business

MTCC reports staggering 82.9% net profit drop

Published

5 days ago

01/05/2024

Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) has reported a staggering 82.9% net profit decline for Q1-2024.

According to MTCC, it earned just MVR 5.2 million in net profit for the review quarter, which came down from MVR 30.8 million in the last quarter of 2023.

The company’s revenue for Q1-2024 stood at MVR 664.4 million, which is a 15.8% drop from MVR 789.2 million generated in the Q4-2023.

Moreover, MTCC reported a whopping 94.5% decline in its Gross Profit for the review quarter, registering MVR 2.5 million in Q1-2024 compared to MVR 44.3 million.

The operating profit for the review quarter stood at MVR 41.8 million, which is a 26% drop from MVR 56.5 million in Q3-2023.

The net asset value per share dropped from MVR 227.95 in Q4-2023 to MVR 226.98 to Q1-2024, while earnings per share saw a notable decline from MVR 3.83 in the preceding quarter to just MVR 0.65 in the review quarter.

Source(s): sun.mv