e-finance Stresses the Importance of Technology in Developing the National Economy

Cairo, Egypt: December 9, 2013 – e-finance, the first and largest Egyptian financial network of its kind in the Middle East, stressed the role of technology deployment in supporting the national economy at Cairo ICT 2013. e-finance is a state-of-the-art financial network specialized in providing advanced and comprehensive electronic financial solutions to the Egyptian government.

e-finance manages and operates the financial network of the Egyptian government (Government Fiscal Management Information System, Treasury Single Account System, and Government Electronic Collection and Payment Network). The company is owned by a number of national banks and is the fruit of prolific cooperation between several Egyptian ministries and agencies, including of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, Central Bank of Egypt, and the Ministry of Administrative Development.

In the last four years alone, e-finance has effectively settled governmental financial transactions valued at EGP 370 billion. The company also successfully issued 4 million pension cards and 2 million payroll cards within the past three years. It is worth noting that the Egyptian government financial network (run by e-Finance) includes a wide range of financial institutions including 28 banks in addition to Egypt Post representing 3,343 branches across Egypt, and 4,600 Pension Outlets, 19 Customs Units, 341 Tax Offices, 2650 government accounting unit, 20,000 POS, and 300 ATMs.

Commenting on e-finance, Ibrahim Sarhan, Chairman and Managing Director of e-finance, stated "Our ultimate goal at e-finance is to better the financial environment in Egypt. We are a great country with tremendous potential, whether in terms of innovation, entrepreneurship or human resources, and this potential can be easily activated if the right conditions are in place. These conditions include a transparent, safe environment in which financial transactions and services can be made. This will eventually lead to boosting consumer spending, streamlining private and public services and encouraging investment on both the domestic, as well as, the international front, and eventually growing the economy."

It is worth mentioning that e-finance cooperates with e-collection companies operating in Egypt, such as Masari, BEE and ISYS, according to the rules of the network established by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Egypt, which guarantee the integrity of the Government Financial network, making e-finance the largest national network for government electronic collections and payments.

Mobile App-based Car Booking Service to launch in Riyadh

Careem, an online chauffeur-driven car service, is set to launch its app-controlled private car booking service in Riyadh after several months of piloting the service in the city.   The service which has been launched recently in the UAE and Qatar, allows people to book a car as and when they need one either for ‘Now’ or for some scheduled time in the future. With the use of Careem technology, a car is matched to the client request and the client gets a guarantee that their car will be dispatched and that it arrive on time.  Careem is backed by solid finance from major institutions including STC Ventures, the investment arm of Saudi Telecom. Co-founder and managing director of Careem, Mudassir Sheikha said: “Our service was borne out of a need to enhance the private transportation options for residents and tourists in the Middle East and take away the daily frustrations of getting around the cities for business and for leisure.”   From the customer perspective, end benefits of Careem include the promise that they will be safe; they will never be relied on for directions and that they can relax in the knowledge that their drivers arrive on time, every time.   These promises can all be delivered on thanks to the in-car GPS system that connects the driver to the operations centre as well as the 24 hour call centre that can turn to if they need assistance. Drivers are regularly screened and advised on safe driving and customer service standards.   Adding to the safety promise, the app feature also allows customers to track the location of their car in real-time. This is particularly beneficial for people not wishing to stand on the street in the extreme heat waiting for a car to arrive; and also for husbands who want to be sure that their wives and children are safe and to know where they are once they are in the car and en-route to their destination.   Magnus Olsson, co-founder and responsible for the operational and technological side of the business, highlighted the safety customer service aspects of the business. “Detail and safety are very important to us. Our drivers are trained by Careem to be courteous, to drive safely and to practice good personal hygiene- all making for a more pleasant ride for the customer,” he said.   “Our customer service goes above and beyond. If we are more than five minutes late to pick a customer up for an airport drop-off, then we do not charge,” said Olsson.   Sheikha said that the key differentiating feature of the Careem model versus competition is the marrying of the human element through their 24-hour-a-day call and operations centre, together with proprietary smart technology and a GPS facility.   “We are an affordable mass luxury product that makes life more comfortable and takes away some of the daily frustrations and hassles of urban life and the customers are continually confirming that this is what they are looking for,” said Sheikha.   “In the first 18 months of operation, we have gone from one market to now four and our customer usage volumes are growing on average 30-40 per cent every month.” –

BARÇA JUSTIFIES PAYMENT AS COMPENSATION

The truth behind the 40 million

Barcelona forked out a total of €57.1 million euros for Neymar. Of this amount, €17.1 million went to Santos, who in turn shared it out between the companies Sonda and Teisa, as both were the owners of the Brazilian superstar's image rights, whose contract was due to finish in 2014.

Barcelona paid another €40 million to the Neymar & Neymar company. Barça member Jordi Casas has accused the club of the embezzlement of this money. Moreover, other sources insist that this amount is part of the player's salary, as the company is owned by the player and his father, and is subject to the corresponding IRPF (income tax).

Barcelona doesn't see things in the same light, however. According to the club, everything went as follows: Real Madrid was about to sign Neymar back in 2011. This was the moment that Sandro Rosell personally intervened to put a stop to the operation and ensure the starlet's signing with the Catalan club.

The Barça president promised to pay €40 million for the player's image rights once he was freed of any obligations to Santos. In the deal, Barcelona forwarded €10 million that went directly to Neymar & Neymar to stop any further negotiations with Real.

In the contract that was then signed, compensation clauses were included in the event that the agreement was broken by either party before 2014, which is when it became valid, as until then the registration rights were not totally of said company, but shared. The club and player promised to pay €40 million if the contract was not respected.

In a step that boosts its position in the Arab region, “Sabq” signs a media cooperation agreement with “MSN Arabia”

Sabq - Riyadh:

Sabq electronic-newspaper has signed a new media cooperation agreement, last week, with MSN Arabia to provide them with exclusive local content, in a step of many to boost its position in the Arab media.

“We in Sabq are eager to gradually develop our content to cope with the recent developments in modern electronic-journalism. By signing a number of important media agreements we hope to enhance our presence in both the local and Arab market” said Mr. Ali Al-Hazmi, Sabq’s General Manager and editor in chief .

“We are happy with the way we are perceived as a credible and trusted source of local news and this agreement with MSN Arabia comes as a step in our drive for development, which will be followed by other steps that the reader will observe in the coming days, we look forward to a further fruitful cooperation with successful websites to pursue our countries’ developmental pathways " added Mr. Al-Hazmi.

“MSN Arabia is very pleased with the signing of this partnership agreement with one of the most prominent media organizations and newspapers in KSA and GCC. The deal is one of many deals that MSNA managed to sign in the region to provide its users with quality content, localization and coverage for their different interests including news, lifestyle, entertainment, sports and many more” – Said Farida Fahmy – Portal Business Manager - MSN Arabia and North Africa

“Al Sabq will empower MSN KSA portal with a genuine Saudi flair ensuring our KSA users are always in the “know” and in the “now” as Sabq is known for its broad and extensive news coverage with a clear sense and knowledge of Saudi national and residents content needs” – Said Ramy Riad – MSN Arabia and North Africa’s Executive Producer.

On the other side, Hesham El Beih ,LINKdotNET KSA Country Manager expressed his great happiness for signing this deal as Sabq is considered the top web site in Saudi Arabia.

Ericsson Mobility Report: Smartphones will consist of 50% the region’s mobile phones by 2019

• Mobile subscriptions will near 9.3 billion by 2019, 5.6 billion of which will be for smartphones driven the region’s smartphone uptake.
• 90 percent of the world’s population will be covered by WCDMA/HSPA in 2019 and 65 percent will be covered by LTE
• Smartphone subscriptions will triple and smartphone traffic will increase 10 times between 2013 and 2019
• 80% of Middle East & Africa subscriptions will be 3G/4G in 2019

The latest Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) Mobility Report reveals that mobile subscriptions are expected to reach 9.3 billion by 2019, and more than 60 percent of these – 5.6 billion – will be for smartphones driven by the uptake of smartphones in region Middle East and Africa as people will likely exchange their basic phones for smartphones which will consist of 50% of total handsets in the region. To support the smartphone user experience, WCDMA/HSPA networks are predicted to cover 90 percent of the world’s population by 2019. Moreover, almost two-thirds (65 percent) of the world’s population will be covered by 4G/LTE networks.

Currently, smartphones represent 25-30 percent of all mobile phone subscriptions, yet they account for the majority (55 percent) of mobile phones sold in Q3.

In 2013, the Middle East and Africa has been dominated by GSM/EDGE, which represents around 80 percent of mobile subscriptions in the region. Dramatic changes will take place in the coming years, and in 2019 WCDMA/HSPA and LTE will represent the same share of subscriptions as GSM/EDGE does today.

In 2019, almost all handsets in Western Europe and North America will be smartphones, compared to 50 percent of handset subscriptions in the Middle East and Africa.

Total smartphone subscriptions will reach 1.9 billion at the end of 2013 and are expected to grow to 5.6 billion in 2019. One of the main reasons for this is a notable increase in Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa subscriptions, as people will be likely to exchange their basic phones for smartphones. This is due in part to the availability of smartphones in lower price ranges.

Anders Lindblad, president of Ericsson, Middle East, says: “The rapid pace of smartphone uptake in the region has been phenomenal, with six million new mobile subscriptions in the

Middle East in Q3 2013 alone. Amazingly, this growth does not show signs of slowing down. In the Middle East and Africa, mobile traffic will increase 11 fold between 2013 and 2019.

“Mobile users in the Middle East are contributing massively to global growth overall, leading the region closer to a Networked Society, where everything is connected in real time.”      

Smartphone traffic will grow by 10 times between 2013 and 2019, reaching 10 exabytes. Video is growing 55 percent annually, and will represent more than 50 percent of the mobile data traffic, while social networking and web services will account for around 10 percent each in 2019.

This edition of Ericsson Mobility Report includes further analysis of app coverage2 – a new approach to evaluating network performance and user experience – with particular focus on indoor and city environments. Radio signals attenuate rapidly as they go through buildings and the high concentration of users, building material and height all pose additional challenges. Having good mobile coverage is an important aspect of life for many; it is now ranked among the top five satisfaction factors of life in a city. As the majority of mobile traffic originates from cities, Ericsson compares three different strategies to provide indoor coverage using simulation software to predict the extent of app coverage in high-rise buildings in this issue.

To accompany the Mobility Report, Ericsson has created the Traffic Exploration Tool, for creating customized graphs and tables using data from the report. The information can be filtered by region, subscription, technology, traffic and device type.

Revenue boosting steps bearing fruit, says govt

Against Rs91.5 billion collection in the first 20 days of December last year, the FBR received Rs114 billion this December, showing a 25% growth. CREATIVE COMMONS

ISLAMABAD: The government has stressed that the steps taken to improve tax revenues have started showing results, a remark that comes in the backdrop of calls made by the International Monetary Fund for adopting a more ambitious approach to plug loopholes in the tax machinery and the laws.

Following the IMF’s Executive Board meeting that cleared second loan tranche of $553 million for Pakistan but raised concern over weak tax administration and depleting foreign currency reserves, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar called a meeting of economic managers to take stock of the situation.

He reviewed the implementation and progress made so far on the reforms and economic targets set by the PML-N government.

Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Tariq Bajwa briefed the minister on the tax collection and tax administration plan. Against Rs91.5 billion collection in the first 20 days of December last year, the FBR received Rs114 billion this December, showing a 25% growth.

It needs to achieve 28% growth to hit this year’s Rs2.475 trillion tax target. Overall growth in the first five months stood at 17%.

Bajwa said tax returns filed this year totalled 814,981 as compared to 744,866 last year.

“The finance minister expressed satisfaction over the pace of reforms and urged officials to redouble their efforts to achieve the targets,” the finance ministry said in a statement.

Contrary to this, the IMF executive directors suggested that Pakistan needed to do a lot more. “A more ambitious approach is needed to improve tax administration and eliminate loopholes,” said a statement issued by the IMF after its board meeting on Thursday.

The lender has asked the government to frame and submit a plan by the end of December for withdrawing the Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) under which tax exemptions have been granted to the affluent. It is also seeking a comprehensive plan to plug loopholes in tax administration.

First, such SROs will be identified and then they will be withdrawn through an Act of parliament. The government plans to scrap these exemptions from July next year.

“Work on identifying the SROs and preparing a plan to improve tax administration is on track and will be completed by December 31,” Bajwa told The Express Tribune.

Some of the IMF board members also expressed concern over the tax amnesty scheme announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recently, according to sources.

Finance Ministry Adviser Rana Asad Amin briefed the finance minister on the progress made so far on the planned issue of sovereign bonds, efforts to streamline and increase remittances and likely improvement in foreign exchange reserves, which would have a favourable impact on the value of the rupee.

The Ministry of Finance has opened the bids invited to shortlist consultants for floating a $500 million Euro bond. The consultant is expected to be appointed next week.

BISP funds: One-fourth of ADB loan is not meant for the poor

The PML-N government has promised to expand the outreach of the programme to 5.4 million families and allocated Rs75 billion for the current financial year. ILLUSTRATION: TALHA KHAN

ISLAMABAD: 

About one-fourth or $100 million of a $430 million loan that the government has borrowed to disburse among the poor, will never reach the downtrodden, as this significant chunk has been set aside for other purposes such as consultancy services, according to the loan agreement.

The government has recently signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for obtaining the $430 million loan to distribute as monthly cash stipends under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). With the stipend of Rs1,200 per month, total cash payment will be about $335 million.

The agreement was inked last month amid apprehensions of misuse of money, as the ADB had already traced Rs2.1 billion of payments that did not reach eligible beneficiaries out of a loan that it gave for the BISP.

The new loan carries the conditions that Pakistan will conduct a strict audit and return Rs2.1 billion that the previous PPP government had disbursed among ineligible people.

The government will return the loan in 25 years along with interest payment at the rate of 2% in dollar terms.

The PML-N government has promised to expand the outreach of the programme to 5.4 million families and allocated Rs75 billion for the current financial year.

An amount of $14.6 million or 3.4% of the loan has been placed under the head of ‘contingencies’. It will be spent on field surveys, research and development and conducting studies, according to BISP officials.

Another $16.7 million or 4% would be spent on consultancy services as consultants would be hired to review the design of BISP cash transfers, Waseela-e-Rozgar and Waseela-e-Sehat programmes, the officials said.

The third component of $24.4 million or 5.7% of the loan has been set aside to pay “interest charges”. However, it is not clear on what account the interest charges will be paid. The cost of interest of a loan is usually added to the project cost only in case of infrastructure projects.

Another $40.2 million or about one-tenth of the loan has been placed under the category of performance allocation. According to BISP officials, the fate of this allocation will be decided after the first mid-term project review, scheduled for 2016.

They added if the progress on Waseela-e-Rozgar and Waseela-e-Sehat programmes remained satisfactory, the amount would be released accordingly.

Apart from these, $1.5 million will be spent on transportation, training workshops and procurement of equipment. However, the tasks could have been performed by utilising domestic resources to keep foreign debt at a lower level.

According to ADB laws, any amount spent on other than the indicated purposes come under the category of “mis-procurement” or “misuse”.

In order to minimise chances of misuse, the ADB has attached the condition that the BISP board will constitute an audit committee to oversee financial reporting and audit of the BISP and will review internal audit reports. The committee will include a non-government member.

The BISP is also bound to provide its unaudited and audited financial statements to the ADB and provide an action plan to address the deficiencies identified in the audit.

The government must satisfy the ADB that in future no payments to ineligible beneficiaries will be made, as the bank has detected irregular payments in the past.

A report of the Auditor General of Pakistan indicated that there were some payments made to ineligible beneficiaries and the lending agency had given Pakistan three years to return this money or it would deduct Rs2.1 billion from the fresh loan, according to the loan agreement.