TL;DR

An agreement to purchase Sukhoi jetliners could set Egypt, Russia on path to resume direct flights. (What We’re Tracking Today)

Global traders wary of Egypt’s ergot requirements for wheat imports. (Speed Round)

Importers are still resisting new requirement to register foreign suppliers. (Speed Round)

Siemens looks to invest EUR 10 bn to generate 10,000 MW from renewables. (Speed Round)

Will Japan cover cost overruns at Grand Egyptian Museum? (Speed Round)
Oil Ministry, EGPC in Saudi Arabia for fuel agreement (Energy)

Manpower Ministry to discuss business’ objections to labor bill (Legislation + Policy)

Deconstructing a favored post-revolution myth of foreign analysts: The military doesn’t dominate the domestic economy. (Worth Reading)

GB Auto to supply Public Transport Authority with 150 buses. (Automotive + Transportation)

Domestic contractors sing the blues over Chinese control of construction at new capital. (Other Business News of Note)

By the Numbers

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

We got it wrong yesterday in our Egyptian securities brokerage league table summary for January 2016. We worked off the table that summarizes special transactions, a clear mistake. The top five on the league table by total value traded (main market, OTC, Nilex) are:

• EFG Hermes (including subsidiaries FBG and Hermes): 20.7% market share
• CI Capital (including subsidiaries CIBC and Dynamic): 8.0% market share
• Pharos Securities: 5.9% market share
• HC Brokerage: 5.2% market share
• Beltone Securities Brokerage: 4.3% market share

Excluding ‘special transactions’ to reflect only the organic trading flow that generates revenue for brokerages, the the league table is EFG Hermes (18.1% market share), CI Capital (9.0% share), Pioneers (5.0%), Sigma (4.2%), Arabeya Online (3.1%). H/t Mohamed E. who first brought this to our attention and to everyone else who emailed or called.

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A deal to purchase Sukhoi passenger jets could pave the way for the resumption of direct flights between Egypt and Russia, according to reports coming out of a press conference yesterday that capped three days of ministerial-level trade and economic talks between Cairo and Moscow. Privately-owned Egyptian Leisure Airlines inked an MoU to buy four SSJ-100 jets from Sukhoi Civil Aviation, with an option to acquire six more. Reuters notes that an Egyptian source suggested the Sukhoi MoU “included the possibility of establishing a joint venture along with a third company that would see Egyptian Leisure acquire a total of 45 Sukhoi SSJ-100s over three years to transport Russian tourists to Egypt — restoring a vital source of revenue to the economy.” Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal is quoted in the same story as saying, “I expect the resumption of Russian flights in the first half of the year.” We have more on the bilateral talks in today’s Spotlight.

The Emirates NBD Purchasing Managers’ Indexes for Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will be out today at about 7:30am CLT. You’ll find them here when they’re released.

Mubarak-era Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif’s retrial in a corruption case is scheduled for today.

Education for Employment wraps-up its third and final day today at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza.

Egypt is the guest of honor at the FRUIT LOGISTICA produce exhibition in Berlin, which kicks off today. Agricultural exports expanded substantially in recent years to USD 2.1 bn, according to Chairman of the Agricultural Export Council Ali Issa. The exhibition is set to last until 5 February.

ON THE HORIZON

AmCham has three forums planned for this month. Next week, Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon will be in Cairo for the “A Commitment to Development: The Private Sector’s Role in Inclusive Growth,” conference along with Egyptian ministers Tarek Kabil, Ashraf Salman, Ghada Waly and Khaled Hanafy. The gathering is organized by AmCham and the UNDP on Sunday, 7 February, at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza. Registration information is here and the conference agenda is here.

Mohamed El Erian as the keynote speaker at a forum on 24 February, while a third will feature top executives from the German development bank KfW discussing projects in Egypt, Al Mal reports.

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

Our talk show coverage is taking a short break. We’ll be back monitoring the airwaves for you soon.

** SIGN UP TO READ THE BETA VERSION OF OUR GCC EDITION by simply tapping here. We’re in alpha now, publishing 2-3x a week during the workday, but expect to switch later this month into beta, publishing Sunday-Thursday by 6am KSA / 7am UAE.

SPEED ROUND

Global producers tracking ergot backlash in Egypt: Egypt reportedly cancelled an international tender to buy wheat on Tuesday after traders balked at shipping requirements “that many in the industry have said are practically impossible to meet,” Bloomberg reports. Two anonymous sources say no traders offered wheat in the tender in the aftermath of Egypt’s rejection of a French wheat cargo that did not meet the zero-tolerance policy for ergot. “Until Egypt clarifies that the quarantine authority will abide by the GASC terms of 0.05 percent for ergot, then GASC risks receiving either no offers or fewer offers and at higher prices,” the director of Solaris Commodities says. Euronext wheat futures have reportedly hit new contract lows as the cancellation “hardened the standoff over import rules, adding uncertainty to a market needing to clear large stocks,” Reuters reports. Egypt, the world’s largest importer of wheat by a 40% or more margin, has previously stopped cargoes from Canada and France, the Financial Times adds in detailed drill-down into a story that has implications for the international wheat market.

Egypt’s new import regulations make registration mandatory and somewhat difficult for some, bring banks into the loop, and tighten supervision, the Sharkway & Sarhan law firm explains. The decisions will “prevent counterfeited products from entering the country, since an endorsement from the owner of the trademark is necessary for the release of goods” but small business might be hurt as “they require the producer to have legal form and licensing in its home country as well as certified quality control systems.” They outline the major decisions and regulations introducing the new measures and also explain the import process after the changes to the CBE regulations.

Importers are still fighting the new changes: The Importers’ Division of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce will petition President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to cancel the import restrictions imposed by Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil, Al Mal reports. The division will send the president a detailed study outlining the economic effects of the new CBE and government regulations, Ahmed El Wakeel, the head of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce says, claiming the move will result in lower tax proceeds.

Siemens offers to invest EUR 10 bn to generate 10,000 MW from renewable energy projects, head of the New and Renewable Energy Authority Mohamed El Sobky tells Al Borsa. The projects on offer will be conducted on an EPC-plus-finance basis and are currently being reviewed by a specialized committee, El Sobky adds. Siemens had previously inked an agreement to build wind farms to generate 2,000 MW with investments of EUR 2 bn, as well as a EUR 100 mn factory to manufacture rotor blades for wind turbines.

The Middle East will tender as much as 4,000 MW of solar energy projects in 2016, Middle East Solar Industry Association (MESIA) predicts. “The upbeat forecast in the Association’s annual Middle East Solar Outlook concludes that 2016 will be characterized by increasingly lower levelized costs of solar electricity, as the region’s solar energy market will be spurred on, rather than slowed down, by low oil and gas prices,” according to MESIA’s press release. The landing page of the report can be found here as well as the 2016 Middle East Solar Outlook report (pdf). Egypt appears repeatedly in the report, which notes that from 20 MW of installed concentrated solar power capacity in 2014 and “just a few [photovoltaic] installations, the country is now aiming for 2,650 MW of PV capacity in operation by 2020, with about 1 GW of solar PV to begin construction in 2016.” The unanswered question — in this document and elsewhere: How to line up financing for it all.

Amwal AlKhaleej announced it exited investments in Sarwa Capital, the parent company of Contact Auto Credit, to the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund. “The value, structure, and timing of the exit is a testament to Amwal’s ability to generate superior returns even after a force majeure such as the 2011 Egyptian revolution,” Amwal AlKhaleej’s Managing Partner Ammar Alkhudairy says. The value of the agreement was not disclosed; both Sarwa and the EAEF announced last year that EAEF had acquired a majority stake in Sarwa in a transaction that saw the injection of “USD 20 mn of new capital to enhance the company’s capital base, in addition to acquiring some existing stakes.”

The Supply Ministry signed an MoU with Visa to consult on the smart card subsidy system, with the aim of making it more efficient and implementing a new payment system in collaboration with local banks, according to Al Mal. The plan will help shave EGP 6 bn off of government subsidy expenditures, Supply Minister Khaled Hanafi said at the signing.

State sends message on price gouging: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail discussed monitoring prices of consumer goods after the recent tariff hikes to guard against inflation having a negative impact on the lowest income bracket Al Masry Al Youm reports. The pair also talked about Ismail’s meeting with House representatives from outlying governorates to talk about their constituents’ needs. El Sisi and Ismail also delved into the issue of railway safety in light of Sunday’s train crash.

** Further reading in Health + Education: Egypt is embarking on a fairer and more accountable health system, Alaa Hamed writes for the World Bank’s MENA Voices and Views blog. The Egyptian government has prioritized “the expansion of access to public health care services and financial protection for disadvantaged populations — a bottom-up approach to universal health coverage,” Hamed adds.

Will Japan cover cost overruns at Grand Egyptian Museum? The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is sending within two weeks a team to study the cost overrun of the Grand Egyptian Museum project and evaluate the possibility of an additional loan, sources at JICA tell Al Mal. A report on its findings will be ready before President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s visit to Japan later this month, the source adds. JICA had previously agreed to a USD 300 mn loan, of which 65-70% has been issued, the source adds. Japan is financing 50% of the total cost of the project, estimated at USD 900 mn. (Read in Arabic)

Making the rounds in local English press and, unfortunately, our Facebook feeds, are comments from President of the Roads and Bridges Authority Adel Turk: “The poorer the condition of the road the less likely accidents will occur… because damaged roads force the driver to lower speeds [and pay more attention],” he told Youm7. The comments seem to mirror other victim-blaming comments Turk made to Lamees El Hadidy on Hona Al Assema on Sunday, which we noted in our talk show coverage on Monday.

Ted Cruz won the Iowa Republican caucuses, nudging Donald Trump out of the presidential race. That sound you hear is a million liberals breathing a sigh of relief. In what is being called the closest race in Iowa Democratic caucus history, Hillary Clinton won over Bernie Sanders by a razor-thin margin of 0.2%, but Democratic party officials have not yet declared a winner. The Sanders campaign is mulling a recount.

BP to cut up to 3,000 jobs by 2017 following an announcement that annual underlying profit in 2015 fell 51% to USD 5.9 bn compared to USD 12.1 bn in 2014, reports BBC. The job reductions affect staff and contractors in its downstream segment. Last year, BP announced 4,000 job cuts in its upstream division as part of a USD 2.5 bn restructuring program.

Africa is vulnerable to the spread of Zika, the virus linked to the spread of microencephaly in Latin America, the World Health Organization has warned.

SPOTLIGHT on the Egyptian-Russian Business Forum

Egypt, Russia ink trade zone and jet memos: The second Egyptian-Russian forum ended yesterday with at least three MoUs signed, Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil said at a press conference with Russian counterpart Denis Manturov:

• Moscow will build a 2 mn sqm Russian industrial zone in East Port Said
• The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) will collaborate with the National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr to finance new ventures in that industrial zone.
• Privately-owned Egyptian Leisure Airlines will buy four SSJ-100 jets from Sukhoi Civil Aviation, with an option to acquire six more.

The two sides also agreed to start moving on previous MoUs that would see Russia Direct Investment Fund’s step up its involvement in Egyptian oil and gas opportunities, AMAY reports.

15 cooperation protocols signed during the three-day summit cover everything from harmonizing common standards and measurements to facilitate trade, the sharing of customs information and databases, cooperating on irrigation and groundwater projects, develop transportation infrastructure projects, and growing tourism flow into Egypt once the travel bans have been lifted. Other, unspecified cooperation protocols could see ties deepen in health, energy, petrochemicals and environmental portfolios.

Egypt requested credit facilities in importing wheat from Russia, Kabil noted at yesterday’s press conference.

The Russians were invited to participate in restructuring state-owned companies, said Investment Minister Ashraf Salman, adding that negotiations for the Daba’a nuclear power plant have not been completed and are ongoing, although no further details on the holdup were provided, according to AMAY.

Manturov also met with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Tuesday for talks on economic cooperation and Russian investment in Egypt, particularly in the Suez Canal Development Area, as well as the establishment of joint ventures across a wide range of sectors. The meeting also touched on cooperation in the area of developing and modernizing factories built during the 1950s and 1960s, according to a statement from Ittihadiya.

THE MACRO PICTURE

Stocks fell around the world yesterday as crude dipped back below USD 30 per barrel, bringing global growth back into question, Bloomberg reports. Not helping the matter was a wave of less-than-stellar results: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 290 points as Exxon Mobil’s (pdf) fourth-quarter profit sunk 58% due to the oil price rout — its biggest earnings drop in more than a decade. BP was among the biggest losers in Europe after its quarterly profit slumped 91%.

Meanwhile, China is gearing up for the biggest-ever acquisition by a Chinese firm, with state-run China National Chemical (ChemChina) nearing an agreement to buy Swiss pesticide and seed maker Syngenta AG for the equivalent of USD 42.8 bn, report Reuters and Bloomberg. “Amid an economic slowdown Chinese companies are enthusiastically focusing on foreign targets in a host of sectors seen as vital to the country’s development,” the FT (paywall) writes of the agreement. The acquisition would make ChemChina the world’s biggest supplier of pesticides and agrochemicals.

And while we’re on M&A, dwindling oil revenues are pushing Russia to line up seven major state companies for potential privatization, including Aeroflot, Alrosa, the diamond miner, and Rosneft, the FT reports. Russian oligarchs are slated to be the potential buyers of the stakes that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to sell, Reuters reports.

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

#whereisgiulio / #جوليو_فين The foreign press in general and Italian media in particular continue to report on the missing 28-year old doctoral student Giulio Regeni, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in Cairo on 25 January. Very little in the way of new details have emerged, save for Reuters who noted that Regeni’s PhD research is centered on trade unions following the 2011 ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak. Il Corriere della Sera, the second-most widely read Italian daily and second-most popular Italian language website, simply notes in its coverage that Regeni had spoken with his parents the night before his disappearance and gave no sign anything was amiss. Meanwhile, a social media campaign to attempt to locate him has taken off, with a number of users changing their profile pictures to that of Regeni’s most recent photograph. A version of the photograph of Regeni we posted yesterday with Arabic text has also been making the rounds.

“End of the world prediction sparked by discovery of Egyptian Queen mother’s tomb,” is the sensationally ridiculous headline of a story on none other than the UK’s Mirror. The Sun doesn’t disappoint either: “Egyptian queen’s tomb sparks Doomsday warning.” The breathless headlines come as archaeologist Miroslav Barta released new details on a previously unknown queen of ancient Egypt. The findings, reports the slightly more reasonable CNN, point to “a crucial period when the Old Kingdom started to face major critical factors: The rise of democracy, the horrific impact of nepotism and the role played by interest groups,” says Barta. Climate change likely played a role in bringing an end to not only the Old Kingdom, but empires in the Middle East and Western Europe, he says. So why the doomsday prediction? Barta’s trenchant: “By studying the past you can learn much more about the present.” Apparently we’re getting our world advice from archaeology professors now.

WORTH READING

Turning a critical eye on widely accepted myths on the level of the military’s role in the economy: Of the more popular, lazy and sloppy memes perpetuated by popular, lazy and sloppy Egypt analysts are the out-of-this-world estimates given for the military’s stake in the economy. Analysts often claim the military’s stake in the economy ranges anywhere from 3% to 70% of total GDP — what we scientifically call a “WAG” or “wild-[redacted] guess.” Abdel Fattah Barayez at Jadaliyya actually tries to arrive at an estimate based on what information has been made available, drawing on data from the World Bank, the CBE, CAPMAS and decrees published in the Official Gazette.

His findings claim: “Contrary to popular thinking, the army’s share in Egypt’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is relatively small. Though limited, hard data shows that it is present in many sectors but does not occupy a commanding position in any, and indeed has no presence in a range of crucial economic sectors.” (Read “This Land is their Land”: Egypt’s Military and the Economy)

IMAGE OF THE DAY

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art using a digital projector to show visitors the striking colors used in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings that have since faded with time. (View image via Smithsonian Magazine, photo credit: Filip Wolak)

WORTH WATCHING

A Tour of Ward 2A of Evin Prison. The notorious Ward 2A of Iran’s Evin Prison is known to hold political prisoners, including the artist Atena Farghadani whose video testimony was taken from a personal video she posted while on bail — and which landed her back in Evin Prison. (Watch in Farsi with English subtitles, running time: 8:23)

DIPLOMACY + FOREIGN TRADE

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry was in Rome yesterday following his arrival there on Monday to attend a summit on the coalition against Daesh, where he met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, according to a brief statement by the MFA. The two reportedly discussed various regional crises including Libya and Syria. The coalition has yet to take a decision on military intervention in Libya, said MFA spokesperson Counselor Ahmed Abu Zeid, Ahram Online reported. While in Rome, however, FM Sameh Shoukry did not comment to the Italian press on the case of the missing 28-year old Italian student Giulio Regeni.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Egypt will host two conferences in Canada in 1H2015 to promote investments in Egypt, Al Mal reports. The first will be held in March and will shine a spotlight on the Egyptian mining sector, according to the organization’s head Fayez Ezz El Din, who says Egyptian government officials will be present.

ENERGY

Oil Ministry, EGPC delegation in Saudi Arabia again to finalize fuel agreement
A delegation from the Oil Ministry and the EGPC has travelled to Saudi Arabia again to finalize the fuel supply agreement with Egypt, Al Shorouk reports. The delegation is putting the final touches on the five-year agreement. A source says the agreement will be signed at President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s expected meeting with King Salman in Saudi Arabia this month. (Read in Arabic)

Schneider Electric involved in half of the projects under the Electricity Ministry’s 2016 emergency plan
Schneider Electric is involved in half of the projects in 2016 as part of the Electricity Ministry’s emergency plan, says head of Schneider Electric Egypt and North East Africa Albert Fuchet. The projects include the Shabab and Damietta power stations, scheduled for completion by December, he adds. Schneider Electric provides circuit breakers, power distribution mechanisms and remote control solutions, adds Fuchet, noting that the total size of agreements in Egypt in the energy sector is estimated at around EUR 20 mn. The company is also looking to ink an agreement with Eni to build a power station to provide it with its energy requirements for the Zohr field developments. However, the company said the USD shortage continues to be an impediment to doing business. (Read in Arabic)

INFRASTRUCTURE

Suez Canal Zone factors can start operating by 2020, Authority says
Egypt plans to have infrastructure in place to allow factories in the Suez Canal Economic Zone to begin production by 2020, says authority’s head Ahmed Darwish. Egypt is also due to receive delegations from Italy, the UK, Malaysia and the African Development Bank, among others, this month to explore opportunities in the economic zone, Darwish noted in a recent report, adding that the authority will start a campaign at the end of March to draw investors from Japan, France, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

BASIC MATERIALS + COMMODITIES

El Zomoroda Food Industries invests EGP 200 mn in new production lines
El Zomoroda Food Industries has allocated EGP 200 mn toward increasing its production capacity through new production lines, company Chairman Fathy Koshk tells Daily News Egypt.
The company aims to increase sales by 10% to EGP 286 mn this year, up from EGP 260 mn in 2015. Koshk says the company is aiming to inaugurate a starch and glucose production factory in June with a capacity of 8,000 tons per month. (Read)

Buying wheat at international prices cost the state EGP 3.9 bn this harvest season
The wheat subsidy system adopted by the cabinet in November has cost the state EGP 3.9 bn this harvest season, sources from the Agriculture Ministry tell Al Borsa. Supply Minister Khaled Hanafi defended the subsidy, which buys wheat from farmers at international prices and pays them EGP 1,300 per feddan, saying it made subsidized bread more widespread. Hanafi promised to reverse the system at the soonest possible convenience after the House Agriculture committee rejected the subsidy system. (Read in Arabic)

MANUFACTURING

New EGP 1.7 bn project to produce ammonium nitrate, says Abu Qir Fertilizers
Abu Qir Fertilizers Company is on the verge of launching a new ammonium nitrate production project with an investment of EGP 1.7 bn, says Chairman Saad Aboul Maaty. The project will be completed in three years, he adds. Expansions will allow Arab fertilizer manufacturers to supply international demand. (Read in Arabic)

REAL ESTATE + HOUSING

PM approves Continental Hotel renovation, shop owners to be compensated
Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has approved the renovation of the Continental Hotel in Abdien Square in downtown Cairo, Governor Galal Saeed tells Al Ahram. The historical hotel’s structure was posing a threat as parts of it were beginning to collapse. Saeed said the original design of the now-abandoned hotel will be retained and that onsite shop owners will be compensated. The renovation works are part of the attempt to restore the sites of Khedival Cairo. (Read in Arabic)

Egyptians for Housing and Development assessing EGP 800 mn project
The Egyptians for Housing and Development company is studying building an EGP 800 mn residential and administrative complex project, says CEO Hashem El Sayed. The 24-story building will be implemented as soon as the studies are completed, he adds. The project will be financed equally with the Egyptian Abroad for Investment and Development over 36 months, said El Sayed. (Read in Arabic)

TOURISM

Tourism campaign in Germany, Poland to begin within days
Egypt’s promotional tourism campaign will begin in Germany and Poland “within days,” head of the Tourism Development Authority Samy Mahmoud says. A parallel campaign will be launched in the Ukraine and the Czech Republic by mid-month, he adds. The promotional campaigns in France and Italy are set to begin in March and those in the China, Japan and Korea in April. Mahmoud says an agreement was reached with Moroccan officials to launch a charter route between Casablanca and Sharm El Sheikh and launch joint promotional campaigns with Morocco. (Read in Arabic)

Egyptian Tourism Federation inks cooperation protocol with Interior Ministry to hike security for tourists
The Egyptian Tourism Federation signed a cooperation protocol with the General Department of Tourism and Antiquities Police to establish an electronic system connecting the two to speed up issuing security permits and minimize human error. The Interior Ministry will set up the system while the federation is tasked with surveying tourism sector employees, clients and excursions. (Read in Arabic)

AUTOMOTIVE + TRANSPORTATION

GB Auto to supply Public Transport Authority with 150 buses
GB Auto has won a bid to supply the Cairo Public Transport Authority with 150 buses. The company will begin delivering the vehicles in 3Q2016, Al Mal quotes VP of Sales Ahmed Fathy as saying. (Al Mal)

Egypt needs to revisit automotive strategy, Nissan Egypt’s VP says
Egypt needs a strategy to expand the usage of domestic components in domestic car assembly and to promote exports, a vice-president of Nissan Egypt tells Al Mal. Reducing car prices could be revisited, he adds, but this hinges on the stability of the exchange rate. The reduction in custom tariffs on European cars will only cause a 2% overall price decrease, he notes. (Read in Arabic)

Transportation Ministry needs EGP 6 bn to buy 50 trains for metro line
The Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operations needs EGP 6 bn in emergency financing to buy 50 trains for the El Marg-Helwan Metro line, says Transportation Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Ibrahim. The National Authority for Tunnels recently inked an agreement to purchase 850 electronic gates from France to replace the non-functioning gates that cost the ministry EGP 50 mn annually in lost revenue. The ministry will also pass on the reassessment of the price of metro tickets to the cabinet and parliament for approval. (Read in Arabic)

BANKING + FINANCE

Triangle Group subsidiary negotiates for USD 100 mn loan
Triangle Group subsidiary Triangle Electro-Mechanical Projects is negotiating with domestic and international lenders for a USD 100 mn loan to finance the company’s first solar power plant in the West Nile area, says the group’s Business Development Director Mohamed Ali. The international institutions include the KfW Development Bank, the UK Export Finance and the OPEC Fund for International Development, he adds. The West Nile area includes seven to eight investors each building a 50 MW plant, notes Ali. (Read in Arabic)

Egypt, Morocco account for 50% of microfinance activity in the Arab World
Egypt and Morocco together account for c. 50% of the region’s microfinance activity, according to a monthly report by the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority. Tanmeyah, Reefy and GB Auto’s Tasaheel were the first three microfinance companies to obtain licenses to operate. Another 530 community associations have permits to engage in microfinance. (Read in Arabic)

OTHER BUSINESS NEWS OF NOTE

Domestic contractors sing the blues over Chinese control of construction at new capital
A number of Egyptian contractors have expressed dismay over the number of projects contracted to Chinese companies in the development of the new administrative capital, Al Borsa reports. Struggling Egyptian contracting firms had banked on being involved in national projects such as the new capital, said Egyptian Businessmen’s Association member Daker Abdel Ilah. He urged the government to enforce the 85% quota on domestic labor signed on for by Chinese contractors. Board member of the Egyptian Federation for Construction & Building Contractors Mohamed Abdel Raouf called on the government to help support the local construction sector so it can compete with the Chinese. (Read in Arabic)

LEGISLATION + POLICY

Manpower Ministry plans to meet with business associations over draft labor bill
The Manpower Ministry plans to hold meetings this week with business and investor associations to discuss concerns about the draft labor bill. A consensus on the draft must be reached by both business owners and unions alike, says the Manpower Minister, who says the business community’s objections have to do with provisions for bonuses, profit sharing and tying increasing wages to increasing productivity. Tourism operators also object to provisions that would allow as few as four workers to form a union, permitting strikes on company time, and limiting working hours. (Read in Arabic)

Tax Authority and SIS campaign to raise awareness on VAT
The Tax Authority and the State Information Service have launched a campaign to raise public awareness on the value-added tax (VAT), including hosting seminars, forums and workshops, AMAY reports. The first leg of the campaign, which was held at the Damietta Chamber of Commerce, saw a number of tax experts state how similar the VAT is to the current sales tax in a bid to play down the transition. A notable advantage mentioned is that VAT will help unify the tax code by applying it to all goods and services not specifically exempted. (Read in Arabic)

EGYPT POLITICS + ECONOMICS

Interior Ministry acknowledges abuses at Matariya Teaching Hospital
Police abuses against doctors of the Matariya Hospital were acknowledged by all sides of a meeting brokered by Deputy House Speaker Suleiman Wahdan to resolve the Matariya Teaching Hospital lockdown after an incident that allegedly saw two physicians assaulted for refusing to falsify medical reports. The meeting included head of the syndicate Dr. Hussein Kheir and Assistant Interior Minister Gen. Mohamed Saeed. Saeed says the officers involved have been suspended and will undergo a disciplinary hearing, promising to keep the House informed on the case. A statement following the meeting called on the Prosecutor General to look into the issue’s swift conclusion and for the Doctors Syndicate to end the lockdown. The Federation of Professional Unions had released a statement fully supporting the Doctors Syndicate and criticizing police corruption, AMAY reports. Doctors refused to return to the wards at Matariya Teaching Hospital after the meeting, Al-Ahram reports. You can also view the most recent statement from the Medical Syndicate here in Arabic.

ON YOUR WAY OUT

Islamic researcher Islam El Behery has lost his appeal of a one-year prison sentence on charges of blasphemy, Al Masry Al Youm reports.

Controversy has already erupted at the Cairo International Book Fair upon the discovery that an Israeli book translated by Amr Zakaria from Hebrew to Arabic was on sale, as noted by Israeli newspaper Haaretz (paywall). A member of liberal-in-name only FreeEgyptians party, Mohamed Al Masoud, brought the issue before the House of Representatives, calling on the culture minister to investigate how such a book could have made its way into the book fair. Zakaria published a defense against the obligatory allegations one would expect in such a case in Sunday’s Akhbar Al Youm. The fair continues through 10 February at the Cairo International Convention Centre, Nasr City.