The news flow just won’t give us a break right now. Not that we’re complaining, but it would be nice to have one day when the world takes a break from making news.

Making the headlines in Egypt today: We have a clearer idea of how the government intends to start reducing its footprint in the economy after local media yesterday got their hands on a draft copy of its state ownership policy. Coming just a few days after the PM laid out his government’s plans to double the private sector’s share of the economy, the document reveals that the state intends to withdraw from as many as 79 economic activities over the next three years, and provides new information on which sectors it will ring fence as strategic. All that and more in this morning’s news well, below.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

Russian forces have taken Mariupol: Ukrainian fighters holed up in a giant steelworks in Mariupol have surrendered following a weeks-long siege, handing Russian forces control of the strategic Black Sea city. (WSJ | Reuters | AP)

Elon Musk is still getting the headline treatment in the business press after Twitter said it plans to enforce the USD 44 bn price tag for his takeover of the company. The Tesla and SpaceX boss indicated on Monday that paying less for the transaction was not “out of the question” after he raised doubts about the volume of spam accounts on the platform. (Financial Times | Bloomberg)

Dominating the front pages in the US press this morning: Gubernatorial primary races in Pennsylvania saw Trump acolyte state Senator Doug Mastriano win the Republican nomination. He’ll face Democrat Josh Shapiro in November’s midterms, who was nominated after running unopposed in the primary. (AP | Reuters | Washington Post | NYT)

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY-

It’s day six of the PSA world squash championships at SODIC’s Club S Allegria and at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. The championship, which is sponsored by CIB, has USD 550k at stake for each of the men’s and women’s categories, making this the biggest purse on record for a squash tourney.

DATA POINT- Online shopping in Egypt is booming: The value of online purchases in Egypt rose 75% y-o-y in 1Q 2022, with Egyptian consumers spending EGP 10 bn online during the three-month period, Al Mal quotes the Central Bank of Egypt’s Assistant Sub-Governor for Banking Operations and Payment Systems Ehab Nasr as saying. PoS transactions also rose 43% to EGP 10 bn. Some 500k transactions have already taken place via Egypt’s new national digital payment app, InstaPay, since its launch in March, according to Nasr.

MORNING MUST READ-

Rich nations need to act now to prevent instability in the developing world from mushrooming into a global crisis: So says Allianz chief economist and all-round market sage Mohamed El Erian, who writes in his latest column for Project Syndicate that the spread of “little fires” in developing countries caused by rising interest rates and surging food and energy prices threaten to engulf the global economy if governments in advanced economies fail to act. Serious debt relief, fresh development aid, and measures to strengthen food and energy buffers of commodity importers all need to be on the table, else low- and middle-income countries risk falling into polycrises of falling economic growth, food and energy shortages, and debt distress. “If that nightmare scenario materializes, the effects will be felt far beyond individual developing countries — and will extend well beyond economics and finance,” he writes.

MARKET WATCH-

Italian energy firm Eni is the latest to open a RUB account in order to keep buying Russian gas, according to a statement. Eni’s move comes as the EU has had conflicting messages on whether or not this would be considered a breach of sanctions, according to Bloomberg. The bloc had earlier this week given European companies the green light to open accounts at Gazprombank and pay up in RUB, a move that would allow Moscow to circumvent sanctions. Moscow has threatened to cut gas supplies to the continent unless it is paid in local currency. As of last week, 20 buyers had opened accounts in Russia and sources indicated yesterday that Eni will join them this week.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Grand Egyptian Museum will be ready to open its doors by September: Construction of the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is set to finish by 30 June, the Tourism Ministry said earlier this week. Work on the interior of the EGP 20 bn museum will be finalized by the end of September, it added. It stopped short of naming an inauguration date, but a tourism official said last month that the GEM would launch in the fourth quarter of this year.

It’s interest rate week here at home: The Central Bank of Egypt will likely raise interest rates when it meets this Thursday, according to a near consensus of analysts and economists we surveyed last week. Six of the seven respondents see the Monetary Policy Committee going ahead with a rate hike to combat inflation and stem portfolio outflows, with five forecasting rates to rise by up to 200 bps.

PSA: Tourism registration for Hajj has been extended: You can now register for this year’s Hajj through tourism companies until next Monday, 23 May, after the deadline was pushed from this Friday, 20 May, the Tourism Ministry said in a statement.

The Islamic Development Bank will hold its 2022 annual meetings in Sharm El Sheikh from 1-4 June under the slogan “post-pandemic recovery: resilience and sustainability,” according to a statement from the Planning Ministry. Several Egyptian ministries and representatives from the bank’s 57 member countries and other financial institutions are set to attend the meetings.

Venture capital 101: The Egyptian Private Equity Association (EPEA) is hosting a paid crash course in all things venture capital at the Zamalek Marriott on 21-23 May. Led by Avanz Capital Egypt MD Hany Assaad, the three-day course will cover everything you need to know about Planet VC, from fund structures and portfolio-building to due diligence and valuations.

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

*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: Enterprise’s industry vertical focuses each Wednesday on infrastructure, covering everything from energy, water, transportation, and urban development, as well as social infrastructure such as health and education.

In today’s issue: The state’s infrastructure spending plans for FY2022-2023: More than half of the state’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year is earmarked for public investment in Egypt’s infrastructure projects, with EGP 1.1 tn out of the entire EGP 2.07 tn budget earmarked for the government’s investment plans — up 17.9% from the current year’s budget. We dive into the government’s new priorities in light of the unstable global economic backdrop against which the budget was drafted, its renewed focus on economic recovery and its new target to increase the volume of “green projects” in next year’s budget.