A spate of fires across several Egyptian provinces over the past week has created alarm among the population.
Egyptian government statements say the blazes were largely caused by electrical short circuits. This is a common cause of fires in Egypt where unregulated construction results in badly wired homes.
The largest blaze happened at dawn on Saturday in Cairo at Al Ahram Studio, one of the country’s most important film locations.
Ten people were injured, according to a report by Giza’s municipal prosecutors, including two firefighters who were climbing a crane to put out the flames when it collapsed.
The fire, which burned for more than four hours, destroyed the historic studio, which opened in 1944.
Witnesses say the blaze damaged sets from popular Egyptian films and television series which had been stored there, and caused significant damage to 10 neighbouring apartment buildings.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, despite Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announcing the launch of investigations after he visited the site on Saturday.
Speaking from the scene, Mr Madbouly said he would give 15,000 Egyptian pounds ($319) to each person whose home was damaged by the fire.
“The fire erupted from multiple sides of the studio and burned every building inside. I watched it spread from my balcony. Within minutes, the whole neighbourhood was in chaos and people were running and screaming,” said Hassan Abdou, 38, who lives in Al Omraneya, the densely populated Cairo neighbourhood where the studio is located.
“Pretty soon it had spread to building after building and the firemen were finding it difficult to put it out. We could hear the screams and the commotion well into the late morning.”
Spate of blazes
The Al Ahram Studio fire is one of many to have broken out across the country recently.
They began last Tuesday with a blaze on the banks of the Nile near the Cairo district of Maadi. The fire was caused by a passer-by throwing a burning cigarette butt into a garden, according to a statement from Cairo’s municipal government on Thursday. No injuries were reported.
On Sunday, the day after the Al Ahram Studio fire, a similar-sized blaze broke out at a shopping centre in the affluent district of New Cairo.
It started on the fourth storey of the mall, inside a restaurant which was almost entirely consumed by the flames, a police official told The National.
The cause, according to a police investigation, was an electrical short circuit inside the restaurant.
The fire also damaged banks located in the mall, according to the police report.
Also on Sunday, a large fire was put out at a wood factory in Beni Suef province, about 150km south of Cairo. The cause is still being determined, according a statement from the Beni Suef municipality.
On Monday, one person was injured when a set caught fire in the Egyptian Media Production City, a complex near Cairo that houses some of the country’s largest television and radio studios.
A police report said the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit that set ablaze wooden set pieces which had been doused in paint thinner in preparation for a television scene that was being filmed that day.
An electrical short circuit also caused another fire, at a hotel near the Giza pyramids on Monday, according to a separate police report.
The Al Jawhara’s 40 guests, who included 25 foreign nationals, were evacuated, the report said.
Another large fire was reported on Tuesday night at a furniture showroom in the Egyptian Nile Delta city of Damietta. A police report blamed an electrical short circuit.
Other smaller fires have also been reported since last week, including one at the offices of a food manufacturer in Giza on Monday.
Speculation over causes
Social media speculation has blamed the fires on arson.
Some users have suggested Egyptians struggling with the cost of living are lighting the fires in protest, without providing evidence.
Facebook user Mona Fouad speculated: “These people who are burning and ruining the country must be regular people who can’t deal with the high prices any more.”
There were also unsubstantiated claims that the fires could have been lit by extremist groups who had launched attacks in Cairo previously.
“I thought we had dealt with our terrorism problem, does this mean we haven’t?” wondered talk show host Osama Gaweesh during a Monday live-stream on X.
There were several church fires in 2022. The largest blaze, at the Abu Seifein Church in Giza, killed 41 Egyptian Copts who were attending a morning service.
The government said those fires were caused by electrical short circuits, amid widespread speculation they may have been deliberately lit to target Egypt's Christian minority.
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It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
SPECS
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UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Last five meetings
2013: South Korea 0-2 Brazil
2002: South Korea 2-3 Brazil
1999: South Korea 1-0 Brazil
1997: South Korea 1-2 Brazil
1995: South Korea 0-1 Brazil
Note: All friendlies
Euro 2020
Group A: Italy, Switzerland, Wales, Turkey
Group B: Belgium, Russia, Denmark, Finland
Group C: Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria,
Georgia/Kosovo/Belarus/North Macedonia
Group D: England, Croatia, Czech Republic,
Scotland/Israel/Norway/Serbia
Group E: Spain, Poland, Sweden,
N.Ireland/Bosnia/Slovakia/Ireland
Group F: Germany, France, Portugal,
Iceland/Romania/Bulgaria/Hungary
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
