Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome — finally — to THURSDAY, which we here at Enterprise have made a tradition of celebrating with all-caps. We have a stacked issue with which to end the week, so let’s dive right in.

But first, a quick programming note: Our popular Work From Home Routine column, which typically appears in our Thursday issues, is on hiatus this week but will be back next Thursday.

PSA- The US Embassy has exchange programs for high schoolers and career professionals:

• The first is a scholarship program for high school students to spend up to one academic year in the United States under the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study program (KL-YES). The program aims to help them develop leadership, problem-solving, language and intercultural skills.
• The second program — titled Community Solutions Program (CSP) — targets career professionals working in issues such as environment, conflict resolution, and women and gender. Participants will spend a year in the US and attend a four-month fellowship at a US community-based organization, government office or legislative body.

The deadline for applications for KL-YES is this coming Saturday, while the deadline for CSP is 28 October. For a list of all exchange programs you can check out the embassy’s webpage here.

The Health Ministry reported 128 new covid-19 infections yesterday, down from 132 the day before. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 104,915 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 6 new deaths, bringing the country’s total death toll to 6,077. We now have a total of 97,920 confirmed cases that have fully recovered.

Developing countries are getting USD 12 bn in financing from the Word Bank to support their fight against covid-19, the bank said in a statement. The funding is part of a larger USD 160 bn package, which will cover access to vaccines, tests, and other treatments for citizens of developing countries. The statement does not specify which countries are eligible for the funding.

A further USD 25 bn in support to developing countries could also be in the pipeline through the International Development Association, a World Bank arm that supports the poorest countries, World Bank President David Malpass said, according to Reuters.

Air Arabia is resuming flights from the UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah International Airport to Cairo starting today, according to Emirates news agency WAM.

An unspecified safety concern has led Eli Lilly & Co to pull the brakes on enrolling participants in a clinical trial of its antibody treatment for covid-19, according to Bloomberg. This comes a few days after Johnson & Johnson was forced to put its vaccine trials on hold after a participant became ill after taking the shot.

Is austerity necessary to offset widening deficits from the pandemic? That depends on how easily each country can access international financial markets, the IMF said in its October Fiscal Monitor yesterday. In an about face from its demands for austerity following the 2007-08 financial crisis, the fund’s fiscal policy head, Vitor Gaspar, urged governments to maintain emergency support, particularly in health and education, until at least 2021 — even if that pushes debt levels higher. Although deficits are expected to surge by 9% in 2020 and global public debt forecast to hit a record high of 100% of GDP, deficits should return to pre-pandemic levels by the middle of the decade, indicating that high debt levels are not the most immediate risk.

We have a rundown on how the IMF sees Egypt’s public finances faring in this morning’s Speed Round, below.

Short-sellers are circling some of the best-performing shares during the pandemic, with some hedge fund managers now believing the strong earnings generated by health and grocery retail firms won’t be sustained for much longer, according to the Financial Times.

Wall Street is still smiling: Goldman Sachs almost doubled profits to USD 3.6 bn in 3Q2020, up from USD 1.88 bn last year, according to an earnings release (pdf). This comes after JPMorgan and BlackRock reported strong 3Q earnings figures on Tuesday.

Are falling oil prices pushing Aramco towards a USD 10 bn stake sale in its pipeline business? Saudi Aramco is in initial talks with BlackRock over a planned USD 10 bn agreement to sell a stake in its pipeline arm, sources close to the talks told Reuters. The sale would give the oil giant much-needed liquidity as Brent crude is still down 36% year-to-date and a USD 75 bn dividend payout looms ahead, the newswire notes. The news of the potential sale came as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin put out a statement urging OPEC+ to stick to production cuts to shore up oil prices, Bloomberg reports.

Covid has been awful for humanity but great for the planet: Global CO2 emissions fell by 8.8% during the first half of the year, at the same time global economic output took its worst hit in decades, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The downside? Global emissions are going right back up again as China powers full speed ahead through an economic recovery.

Google may be forced to sell its Chrome browser and parts of its advertising business by US prosecutors in response to alleged antitrust violations, Politico reports, citing three people familiar with the matter. A forced sale by the Department of Justice, which would come after an antitrust lawsuit that is expected to start in the coming weeks, would be the first break-up of a US company in decades, and mark a watershed moment for regulators looking to rein in the powerful tech monopolies. Chrome has the largest market share in the US, and Google has been accused of using access to web histories granted by the browser to aid its advertising business.

Egyptian actor Mahmoud Yassine passed away yesterday at the age of 79 after a long illness, his son announced on Facebook. Yassin’s 55-year career includes cinema classics such as the 1973 war film The Bullet is Still in my Pocket (1974), and the political allegory A Thing of Fear (1969), as well as numerous small screen roles that made him a household name.

It’s Making It Day: A fresh episode of the third season of our podcast on building a great business in Egypt is out today.

Ashraf Sabry, CEO of Fawry: When time came to build his own company after extensive corporate experience he had two driving motivators: he wanted to use technology to solve a problem and create a business model with a sustainable revenue stream.

Fawry is ubiquitous in the world of Egyptian fintech: Launched in 2008 and backed by major investors, the Fawry platform now connects over 29 mn customers with over 850 bill payment services through 166k service points. Last year, the company debuted on the EGX and became Egypt’s first unicorn this year when its market capitalization surpassed USD 1 bn.

Connecting the unbanked to the banking system is an integral part of financial inclusion — and Fawry plugs that gap. Beyond moving money from A to B and the convenience of being one of now many payment options, Fawry helps individuals and businesses who would otherwise struggle to meet minimum banking requirements access finance. It connects them to the banking system and brings them into the formal economy.

Tap or click here to listen to the episode on our website | Apple Podcast | Google Podcast | Anghami | Omny. We’re also available on Spotify, but only for non-MENA accounts. Subscribe to Making It on your podcatcher of choice here.