Happy hump day, ladies and gentlemen. It’s shaping up to be a legislation-heavy news day, as the House of Representatives pushes through a handful of closely-watched bills.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

House greenlights all things automotive: The House of Representatives’ general assembly gave final approval today to two separate bills: One that will see the establishment of the Supreme Council for Vehicle Manufacturing and a new EV finance fund in a bid to localize the automotive industry and another that will allow expat Egyptians to import cars and get customs and fees drawbacks. The Finance Ministry is expected to publish a detailed list of the customs and required FX deposit sizes for different car models within two weeks of the law being published in the Official Gazette.

^^We’ll have more details on this and other stories in tomorrow’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

The THE BIG STORY ABROAD

It’s a relatively mixed bag in the international business press this afternoon. Among the stories getting front-page ink: Goldman Sachs is revamping the structure of its business units, consolidating its trading and investment banking divisions as the bank reported a 43% y-o-y drop in its bottomline, the Financial Times reports. Elsewhere, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss’ ill-timed economic policy plans are officially dead and are now being replaced by “eye-watering” spending cuts, Reuters and CNBC report.

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

• We have a once-a-century chance to build an export-led economy that makes us a magnet for FDI. We’ve spoken with some of the smartest people we know in the private sector, and they all agree that it’s not only possible — the recipe is simple.
• Maait hits the airwaves: The announcement on our assistance loan from the IMF will come “quickly,” Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said yesterday, stressing that the most important outcome is the message the agreement will send to the world — that Egypt is working on economic reforms supported by the IMF.
• Investors see 14% deval ahead of IMF agreement: Three-month non-deliverable forwards on the EGP — i.e., where investors think the currency could end up in three months’ time — slipped to EGP 22.90 against the greenback on Monday

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) will launch a promotional campaign ahead of COP27 on potential investments in the zone next week, SCZone head Walid Gamal El Din said, according to a statement. The campaign will be launched domestically next Sunday, 23 October, before the international campaign kicks off on Monday, 24 October.

The Madbouly government’s economic conference takes place Sunday-Tuesday next week. You can find the agenda for the conference here.

Egypt and the UAE will host a two-day conference marking 50 years of bilateral ties. The gathering will take place next Wednesday-Friday, 26-28 October and is being produced in association with the two governments.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect temperatures to rise slightly to 29°C during the day tomorrow before falling to 19°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.