PM — Ins + outs of industrial automation

TL;DR

Industrial automation is helping manufacturers make strides in their industries — here’s how. (Inside Industry)
Non-compliance with registration rules was behind suspension from Egypt’s importer’s registry. (The Big Story Today)
Israeli police forces entered Al Aqsa in Jerusalem again today, injuring 17 Palestinians. (The Big Story Abroad)
With no regulations in sight, carbon-linked crypto tokens may do more harm than good. (For Your Commute)
The NFT of former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first tweet has lost almost the entirety of its USD 2.9 mn value in a year. (For Your Commute)
Daesh drama Betloo’ El Rouh (finally) joined the Ramadan mosalsal lineup over the weekend. (On The Tube Tonight)
Bahrain-based asset manager Investcorp could purchase Italy’s AC Milan for EUR 1 bn. (On The Tube Tonight)
Listen to jazz or attempt to be a standup comedian at The Room’s events today. (Out And About)

???? WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TONIGHT

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and happy Palm Sunday, Western Easter, and Passover to all those observing — which is a sizable bunch, if the volume of out of office replies we’ve received today is any indication.

SO, WHEN DO WE EAT? You’ll be breaking your fast at 6:23pm CLT this evening in the capital city, and fajr prayers are at 3:55am.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

Non-compliance with registration rules behind suspension from importer’s registry: The decision to temporarily suspend some international companies from the list of companies approved to export to Egypt was due to their failure to comply with factory registration requirements, the Trade Ministry said in a statement. The ministry’s General Organization for Export and Import Control (better known by its acronym, GOEIC) regularly reviews documents including quality certificates and trademarks, the ministry said, and companies whose documents have expired are given a two-week warning ahead of suspension decisions, the ministry said. Some 122 companies have already submitted their updated documents since the beginning of the year, and are no longer suspended, according to the statement, while other companies manufacture their products in local factories and no longer need to export products to Egypt.

ALSO IN THE NEWS TODAY- The first direct flight between Tel Aviv and Sharm El Sheikh took off today under an agreement made between President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in March, according to Arab News and Al Arabiya. The flight was operated by Israel’s El Al airlines and landed in Sharm earlier this morning. EgyptAir has been operating a direct route between Cairo and Tel Aviv since last October.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Aside from updates on Russia and Ukraine gearing up for more fighting on the ground, violence in Jerusalem is getting ink in the global press this afternoon. Israeli police forces entered Al Aqsa in Jerusalem again today, following a similar incident over the weekend in which Israeli forces entered the mosque while Palestinians were praying, the Associated Press reports. Today’s violence left 17 Palestinians injured, according to the newswire. Reuters also has the story.

COVID WATCH- Remember omicron? Its sub-variants are still spreading: The World Health Organization (WHO) is tracking the spread of new omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 in Southern Africa and Europe, reports CNBC. The two strains don’t appear to be more contagious or deadly than previous omicron sub-variants, but this could change as they continue to circulate, WHO’s technical lead on covid-19 Maria Van Kerkhove said in remarks to the press. Another omicron subvariant, XE, is also still spreading in many countries, with initial data from the UK showing that it might be more contagious than others. Meanwhile, the BA.2 subvariant — which was first discovered in South Africa — has now become the predominant strain spreading across the world.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

Incolease, Mondi in transactions: A consortium made up of Banque Misr, Misr Ins. Holding (MIH) and its subsidiary Misr Life Ins., and the National Investment Bank (NIB) has sold its 38.7% stake in the International Company for Leasing (Incolease) for a total of EGP 316.9 mn. Separately, packaging group Mondi has acquired two of Lafarge Cement Egypt’s paper production assets, National Bag and Egypt Sack, for an undisclosed sum.
We’re paying more at the pumps: The government raised fuel prices by c. 3% over the weekend amid a rise in global oil prices on the back of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In its latest quarterly meeting, the fuel pricing committee decided to raise prices at the pumps by another EGP 0.25 per liter for 95, 92 and 80 octane fuel for 2Q 2022.
Egypt’s current account deficit narrowed to USD 3.8 bn in 2Q 2021-2022, from USD 4.8 bn in the same period last year

enterprise

*** It’s Inside Industry day — your weekly briefing of all things industrial in Egypt. Inside Industry focuses each Sunday on what it takes to turn Egypt into a manufacturing and export powerhouse, ranging from initial investment and planning to product distribution, through to land allocation to industrial processes, supply chain management, labor, automation and technology, inputs and exports, regulation and policy.

In today’s issue: Last week, we looked at how Egypt’s manufacturing industries are faring when it comes to industrial automation. We found that the industry as a whole is late to the shift by global standards, despite showing strong potential and capacity for automation. Today, we look at the companies that are shifting towards Industry 4.0, diving deeper into the benefits and impacts it has had on their manufacturing processes, their final products, and even their organizational culture.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

The IMF + World Bank Spring Meetings start tomorrow in Washington: Global finance chiefs will descend on Washington tomorrow for the IMF and World Bank annual Spring Meetings. Expect the global economic impact of the war in Ukraine and fears of food security to dominate the agenda. International Cooperation Minister Rania Al Mashat yesterday met with Marina Weiss, WB regional director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti, to finalize preparations ahead of Al Mashat’s participation in the event, according to a statement.

Smart money has the IMF downgrading its global growth forecast when it releases its World Economic Outlook on Tuesday.

PSA- You only have four days left to file your ESG report: EGX-listed companies and all non-bank financial services outfits regardless of listing status need to submit their first quarterly ESG questionnaire by this Wednesday, 20 April. The regulator is making it mandatory for corporates to publicly disclose their performance on key environmental, social and governance metrics each year when they submit their annual financial statements, starting 2023. Reach out to Moustafa Taalab at InkankIR, our parent company, if you need some help.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar will address AmCham’s pre-annual general meeting and iftar this coming Tuesday, 19 April from 6-8pm at the Nile Ritz Carlton. Abdel Ghaffar will give a talk titled speak on investment in the nation’s healthcare and pharma sectors.

Next steps in Tenth of Ramadan dry port tender: The General Authority for Land and Dry Ports will issue the conditions booklet to bidders in its tender to establish and operate the Tenth of Ramadan dry port next month, Al Borsa reported citing Amr Ismail authority head.

Further afield, Egypt will host the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s annual meeting of the board of governors in 2023, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait and execs at the bank agreed during a meeting, according to a cabinet statement. The move comes as Egypt aims to bolster multilateral cooperation between Asia and Africa and become a regional logistics hub for transport and energy.

Entrepreneurs from across Africa have until 6 June to apply to startup competition Africa’s Business Heroes, which is backed by the Jack Ma foundation, according to a press release (pdf). The top 10 businesses in the competition will earn a shared pot of USD 1.5 mn.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Today’s heat will recede slightly tomorrow, with the mercury set to reach 33°C during the day and 18°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.

This publication is proudly sponsored by

???? FOR YOUR COMMUTE

With no regulations in sight, carbon-linked crypto tokens may do more harm than good: Crypto enthusiasts have attempted to bring the green revolution to the crypto market, converting carbon offset credits into digital tokens and selling them, the Financial Times, citing carbon analysts. These carbon-linked cryptos have soared from USD 4.65 per tonne to more than USD 14 between June 2021 and April this year. However, the increase in demand and price has led many crypto traders to find old carbon offset credits to buy and tokenize, many from before 2010. These are coined as “junk” credits by analysts who explain that they may not genuinely represent the carbon savings they promised. The two unregulated markets coming together may mean that users who wanted to use tokenized credits to offset their emissions might not have a way to validate the impacts of the projects they’re investing in.

The new cryptocurrency at the center of this trend: Klima is linked to the carbon offset market, whose (anonymous) founders believe it can help solve the climate crisis by driving up demand for offsets and therefore, the price of carbon. The price of Klima rose to a record high of more than USD 3.6k in October 2021 and now stands at around USD 20 this month. Klima has raised more than one question mark when it comes to its intentions, with analysts worried that the “focus is crypto first, climate second,” the FT writes.

The NFT of former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first tweet has lost almost the entirety of its USD 2.9 mn value in a year. In December 2020, Dorsey sold his first post on the platform for USD 2.9 mn. However, in an auction last week, no one bid more than USD 280 for it, while bids on platforms such as OpenSea barely reached over USD 10k, writes Forbes. The buyer, Iranian crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi, has lost more than 99% of his massive investment which he decided to buy during the peak of the NFT hype. Estavi’s initial selling price was ETH 14,969, or about USD 50 mn, but the dramatically lower bids put an end to those ambitions. Players in the NFT space posit that the time for buying NFTs from celebrities or those of high stature has passed while others accused Estavi of attempting a publicity stunt. Estavi has previously said he is not willing to sell for less than his asking price.

Undeterred by the potential freefalling value, Dubai-based carrier Emirates is tapping into NFTs under the airliner’s plan to boost revenue and brand experience, according to a press release. It plans to “build signature brand experiences in the metaverse, alongside both collectible and utility-based NFTs,” with a launch expected in the coming months. Not sure what we’re talking about? Check our explainers on NFTs and the metaverse (here and here).

???? ENTERPRISE RECOMMENDS

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

(all times CLT)

Daesh drama Betloo’ El Rouh (finally) joined the Ramadan mosalsal lineup over the weekend, with what we thought was a great performance from Menna Shalaby, who plays the titular character, Rouh. What begins as an ordinary trip to Turkey in an attempt to rekindle the marriage of two university sweethearts and couple Rouh and Akram (Mohamed Hatem) ends up with the latter deceiving her to head to Daesh stronghold Raqqa in Syria. The first two episodes show briefly how Akram was influenced to adopt extremist thoughts and join Daesh after quitting his job as the head of a top advertising agency in Egypt, which was deemed “haram.” He begins to transfer funds to the group in Raqqa ahead of his plan to deceive Rouh and their son to travel to the city through Turkey. Catch Betloo’ El Rouh on Shahid VIP.

⚽ IN FOOTBALL NEWS- Bahrain-based asset manager Investcorp is making the move on Italy’s AC Milan at an enterprise value of EUR 1 bn, Bloomberg reports, citing sources with knowledge of the matter. They are in talks with current owner Elliott Management Corp to buy the club, joining a buying trend of elite clubs by sovereign wealth funds and billionaires, some from the Middle East. Manchester City is owned by Abu Dhabi’s ruling family member Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, while Qatar Investment Authority owns Paris Saint-Germain. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund purchased Newcastle United for GBP 305 mn last year.

We have a somewhat busy day for football today in Europe and Africa. In the FA Cup, Chelsea will play against Crystal Palace at 5:30pm in the semifinal as the Blues hope to send some assurances to supporters after their exit from the UEFA Champions League and the uncertainty of the club’s future.

Also in England: Two games are up shortly after we dispatch this issue: Newcastle United v Leicester City and West Ham United v Burnley.

In La Liga, Granada v Levante is currently underway, with later games including Atletico Madrid v Espanyol at 4:15pm, Athletic Bilbao v Celta Vigo at 6:30pm, and finally Sevilla v Real Madrid at 9pm.

Meanwhile in Africa, the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup’s quarter-final begins today, with Tanzania’s Simba SC v South Africa’s Orlando Pirates at 6pm, and three games at 10pm: Egypt’s Al Masry v Morocco’s RSB Berkane, Libya’s Al Ittihad v old rival Al Ahli Tripoli, Egypt’s Pyramids v DR Congo’s TP Mazembe.

????EAT THIS TONIGHT-

The best way to face the warmer days: A sweet cone of ice cream — with a Ramadan twist. Dolato Gelateria is back with some new Ramadan creations: Simple konafa cones with your choice of nutella, lotus and mango, and new ice cream cakes available only during the holy month, including basbousa hazelnut, honeycomb sesame, and konafa pistachio.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-

(all times CLT)

Head to Garden City’s Room Art Space tonight for some oriental jazz tunes and other music genres modified by jazz band Eftekasat at 9pm.

It’s not too late to try your hand at being a stand-up comedian. Try your luck at Room’s branch in New Cairo as they host tonight a comedy open mic event Comedy Monsters at 9:30 pm. Just prepare 5-7 minutes of comedy content and test how funny you actually are.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

How do you make numbers count? Best-selling business author Chip Heath knows how through his book Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers. Heath provides six ideas, including concreteness, familiarity among others, to help people understand data with more clarity and meaning. The amount of information isn’t lucrative to people anymore, he argues, citing the huge amount of data generated annually. What people need to make numbers count is a clear understanding of the numbers we have and how to use them efficiently.

???? GO WITH THE FLOW

The ins and outs of industrial automation in Egypt: Last week, we looked at how Egypt’s manufacturing industries are faring when it comes to industrial automation. We found that the industry as a whole is late to the shift by global standards, despite showing strong potential and capacity for automation. In Part II, we look at the companies that are embracing the shift, diving deeper into the drivers behind automation for manufacturers and the effects it has had both on companies’ internal processes, and on their organizational culture.

Here’s what we’ve found: The initial cost of purchasing machinery and equipment for automation is hefty, Industrial Development Group Marcom Manager Monica Salama told Enterprise. The average cost for new equipment can range widely from USD 28k for a standalone robotic arm to hundreds of thousands of USDs and up for a complete industrial automation system, according to Swedish automation company SDC.

But once you have the infrastructure in place, maintaining and upgrading the machinery and software is much less costly, cement manufacturer LaFarge Egypt’s Industrial Director Niels Ledinek told us. LaFarge built its plants with infrastructure that enabled easy implementation of automation 20 years ago, which helped to easily upgrade the facilities later on as soon as new technology was introduced, Ledinek added. GB Auto also first installed robots in its plant over a decade ago — when robots cost near USD 1.5 mn — and has now automated most of its assembly lines at a much smaller cost, Chief Manufacturing Officer Ramez Adeeb told us.

The mn-USD question is: Is it worth the investment? The overwhelming consensus from those who implement it is yes. Our ROIs from automation cover perhaps up to a year in terms of efficiency, with little capital investment, Ledinek said, adding that energy efficiency gains are 5% a year, which translates into beyond USD 1 mn in energy savings per year.

Robots also save about 70-80% of human errors in manufacturing in our experience, Adeeb added, which means production levels are optimized in both volume and quality, and waste is reduced. Robots also help save raw material, due to their precision and the removal of incidences of error, he noted, adding that the company now saves about a third of the amount of car paint that would be used manually. For Eva Pharma, automation helped the company save on compressed air generation — a significant utility cost — by ensuring there are no leaks, CEO Riad Armanious said.

Some even report zero product rejects and defects: Our automated facilities have led to maximum productivity with almost zero defects, Armanious said. Alert systems allow for quick intervention before failures can occur, which reduces failure rates and applies functions like environmental controls to avoid complications, especially in sterile operations, he added.

Sustainability also plays a role in manufacturers’ decisions to automate: Many companies — especially corporates and multinationals — are driven to automate in order to meet sustainability pledges and ensure their performance aligns with environmental, social and governance (ESG) expectations, IBM General Manager Marwa Abbas told Enterprise. The machines we provide to manufacturers all have a carbon emission quota that we monitor for our client as part of our larger net-zero emission pledge, Abbas said, noting that this alone helps companies monitor and cut back on emissions.

As does improving the quality of exports: Any manufacturing company producing or manufacturing on behalf of a large corporate firm or multinational will likely have automated its factories in order to comply with global manufacturing standards, especially when exporting, Abbas explained. Exporting pharma products, for instance, requires compliance to certain data integrity regulations that can only be met by automating our processes and having in place a strict quality control regimen, Armanious explained, so automating Eva Pharma’s factories actually helped open up new markets for export.

But how much do companies actually invest in automation? About 15% of our annual budget goes towards automation, Armanious said.

For other firms, investments are allocated on an as-needed basis: The numbers are running all the time, because it really depends on the company’s needs and the rise of new automatable technologies, which you can’t really predict, Adeeb explained. We don’t really budget anything for digitalization, Ledinek echoed. We look at the cost and benefits of any new solution, and if it can get us really fast rates of return in less than a year for example, we do it regardless of whether or not it is budgeted, because we will be getting the money back fast, he added.

Some are prepared to shell out investments of any size in order to make the shift. Abou Ghaly Motors’ new assembly plant — which is expected to come online within five years — will be entirely automated, and we have no problem investing whatever is required to ensure the plant is fully automated, the company’s group commercial director, Tamer Kotb, told Enterprise.

Automation also reshaped organizations’ hiring processes: We’re starting to hire more people with a digital background like data analysts or scientists to ensure proper application of automated systems and to come up with ways to develop our digital solutions based on the pain points we have, Ledinek said. In Eva Pharma’s case, automation has helped absorb the additional work needs generated by expansion, and helped them save on future hires, Armanious told us. One cartoning machine it purchased, for example, made up for some 15 new operators the company would have needed for the task.

Most are reassigning their employees to managerial or supervisory roles: Current human resources were reassigned for automation control or management activities rather than physical activities, Armanious and Adeeb both explained. Our focus has shifted to hiring talent for roles that “only humans can uniquely do,” Armanious added.

Your top industrial development stories for the week:

Eastern to let Philip Morris make smokes in Egypt: The Egyptian arm of tobacco giant Philip Morris is on course to manufacture cigarettes in Egypt after reaching an agreement with Eastern Company.
Alternative fuels requirements for cement factories? Alternative fuels could soon need to account for at least 15% of cement factories’ energy consumption under a proposal being studied by the Environment Ministry.
Egyptian exporters want to open RUB bank accounts: The Egyptian Businessmen’s Association wants Egyptian businesses to be able to open RUB bank accounts, in order to maintain trade between the two countries amid western sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

???? CALENDAR

OUR CALENDAR NOW APPEARS in two sections:

Events with specific dates or months are right here up top
Events happening in a quarter or other range of time with no specific date / month appear at the bottom of the calendar.

APRIL

April: Ghazl El Mahalla shares will begin trading on the EGX.

April: A delegation from a major Belgian shipping company will arrive for talks on building an international shipping supply center in Egypt.

18-24 April (Monday-Sunday): World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings, Washington D.C.

20 April (Wednesday): Deadline for listed companies and NBFIs to submit quarterly ESG reports.

Mid-April: Trading on the Egyptian Commodity Exchange to start.

21 April (Thursday): EGX-listed Taaleem will hold an extraordinary general assembly to discuss the mechanism to build and own nonprofit and private universities.

24 April (Sunday): Coptic Easter Sunday (holiday for Coptic Christians).

25 April (Monday): Sham El Nessim.

25 April (Monday): Sinai Liberation Day.

28 April (Thursday): National Holiday in observance of Sham El Nessim.

30 April (Saturday): Deadline for submitting corporate tax returns for companies whose financial year ends 31 December.

30 April (Saturday): Fixed customs exchange rate lifted.

Late April through 15 May: 1Q2022 earnings season

MAY

May: Investment in Logistics Conference, Cairo, Egypt.

May: General Authority for Land and Dry Ports to issue the conditions booklet for the tender to establish and operate the Tenth of Ramadan dry port.

1 May (Sunday): Labor Day.

1 May (Sunday): Suez Canal Authority raises tolls for different vessels.

3-4 May (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Reserve interest rate meeting.

4 May (Wednesday): 3 February (Thursday): Deadline to send in applications for Cultural Property Agreement Implementation projects to the US Embassy in Cairo.

5 May (Thursday): National Holiday in observance of Labor Day.

2 May (Monday): Eid El Fitr (TBC).

15 May (Sunday): Last day for EGX-listed companies to file 1Q2022 earnings

19 May (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

JUNE

5-7 June (Sunday-Tuesday): Africa Health ExCon, Al Manara International Conference Center, Egypt International Exhibitions Center, and the St. Regis Almasa Hotel, New Administrative Capital.

9 June (Thursday): European Central Bank monetary policy meeting.

14-15 June (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Reserve interest rate meeting.

15-18 June (Wednesday-Saturday): St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), St. Petersburg.

16 June (Thursday): End of 2021-2022 academic year for public schools.

21-22 June (Tuesday-Wednesday): Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development, Cairo.

23 June (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

27 June-3 July (Monday-Sunday): World University Squash Championships, New Giza.

30 June (Thursday): June 30 Revolution Day, national holiday.

30 June (Thursday): Deadline for bids for National Democratic Party HQ redevelopment contract.

JULY

July: A law governing ins. for seasonal contractors will come into effect.

July: Fuel pricing committee meets to decide quarterly fuel prices.

Early July: Polish President to visit Egypt.

1 July (Friday): FY 2022-2023 begins.

1 July (Friday): Official rollout of e-receipt system begins.

8 July (Friday): Arafat Day.

9-13 July (Saturday-Wednesday): Eid Al Adha, national holiday.

21 July (Thursday): European Central Bank monetary policy meeting.

26-27 July (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Reserve interest rate meeting.

30 July (Saturday): Islamic New Year.

Late July – 14 August: 2Q2022 earnings season.

AUGUST

August: Work to extend the capacity of the Egypt-Sudan electricity interconnection to 600 MW to be completed.

18 August (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

SEPTEMBER

September: Egypt will display its first naval exhibition with the title Naval Power.

September: Central Bank of Egypt’s Innovation and Financial Technology Center to launch incubator for 25 fintech startups.

8 September (Thursday): European Central Bank monetary policy meeting.

18 September (Sunday): Deadline for brokerage firms, asset managers and financial advisors to register with the Egyptian Securities Federation.

20-21 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Reserve interest rate meeting.

22 September (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

OCTOBER

October: World Bank and IMF annual meetings in Washington, DC

October: Fuel pricing committee meets to decide quarterly fuel prices.

1 October (Saturday): Use of Nafeza becomes compulsory for air freight.

6 October (Thursday): Armed Forces Day, national holiday.

8 October (Saturday): Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, national holiday.

18-20 October(Tuesday-Thursday): Mediterranean Offshore Conference, Alexandria, Egypt.

27 October (Thursday): European Central Bank monetary policy meeting.

Late October – 14 November: 3Q2022 earnings season.

NOVEMBER

November: Cairo Water Week 2022.

1-2 November (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Reserve interest rate meeting.

3 November (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

4-6 November: The Autotech auto exhibition kicks off at the Cairo International Exhibition and Convention Center.

7-18 November (Monday-Friday): Egypt will host COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh.

21 November-18 December (Monday-Sunday): 2022 Fifa World Cup, Qatar.

13-14 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Reserve interest rate meeting.

15 December (Thursday): European Central Bank monetary policy meeting.

DECEMBER

22 December (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

JANUARY 2023

January EGX-listed companies and non-bank lenders will submit ESG reports for the first time.

January: Fuel pricing committee meets to decide quarterly fuel prices.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

1H2022: Target date for IDH to close its acquisition of 50% of Islamabad Diagnostic Center.

1H2022: e-Finance’s digital healthcare service platform, eHealth, will launch its services.

1H2022: The government will respond to private companies’ bids to build desalination plants.

1H2022: Egypt’s second corporate green bond issuance expected to be announced.

14 March-30 June: The “Escape to Egypt” exhibition at the Coptic Museum, in celebration of its 112th anniversary.

2Q2022: The Sovereign Fund of Egypt will invest in two companies in the financial inclusion and non-banking financial services sectors.

End of 2Q2022: The Financial Regulatory Authority’s new Ins. Act should be approved.

End of 2Q2022: Door for bidding for the contract to redevelop the site of the former National Democratic Party HQ to close.

End of 1H2022: Emirati industrial company M Glory Holding and the Military Production Ministry will begin the mass production of dual fuel pickup trucks that can run on natural gas.

2H2022: The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

2H2022: IEF-IGU Ministerial Gas Forum, Egypt. Date + location TBA.

2H2022: The government will have vaccinated 70% of the population.

3Q2022: Ayady’s consumer financing arm, The Egyptian Company for Consumer Finance Services, to release first financing product.

End of 2022: e-Aswaaq’s tourism platform will complete the roll out of its ticketing and online booking portal across Egypt.

2023: Egypt will host the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors in 2023.

**Note to readers: Some national holidays may appear twice above. Since 2020, Egypt has observed most mid-week holidays on Thursdays regardless of the day on which they fall and may also move those days to Sundays. We distinguish above between the actual holiday and its observance.