Good afternoon, wonderful people. We have an exciting week ahead of us, not least because…

We’re looking forward to meeting many of you on Tuesday at 8am at the Grand Egyptian Museum for our inaugural Enterprise Climate X Forum.

If you’re attending: Please plan to arrive on time for our 8am standing networking breakfast. Traffic in the area surrounding the GEM has been heavy of late, so you will likely want to leave a few minutes early.

** You will need a special QR code to gain admission to the GEM. Everyone who received and completed our online registration form will be receiving an email with their QR code within the next few minutes.

We regret that overwhelming demand from the community meant we could not welcome everyone who expressed interest in attending.

STAY TUNED- The Enterprise Climate X Forum is our first large-scale event, but it’s not our last. We look forward to welcoming many more of you at our slate of Enterprise X Forums coming up in 2023.

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THE BIG STORY TODAY

We could get our first IMF loan tranche this month -Maait: Egypt could be getting the first USD 750 mn tranche of our recently-agreed USD 3 bn IMF bailout package this month, Al Mal quotes Finance Minister Mohamed Maait as saying. As of the time of writing, Egypt is not on the IMF executive board’s public agenda, which is public through to 14 December.

Egypt is also planning to take its maiden USD 500 mn panda bond issuance to market before the end of 1Q 2023, as part of the government’s push to diversify its financing sources amid global volatile capital market conditions, the news outlet reports.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

China is loosening its covid restrictions after a rare bout of public dissent against the government’s strict policies to curb the spread of the disease. Individual cities are rolling back several restrictive policies, including requirements to present negative PCR results to use public transport, but it’s widely expected that a full end to the country’s covid-zero policies will take some months to materialize. The story is leading the conversation in the international business press, with coverage from Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times.

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

• Actis’ Sherif El Kholy on the export industries we should focus on right now, and down the line: After reading our five-step recipe for turning Egypt into a global export hub and FDI magnet, Actis’ Sherif El Kholy tells us why he thinks our short-term focus should be service-oriented industries, while manufacturing for the green economy should be our long-term priority.
• Egypt will sign contracts to build 21 desalination plants next year, Sovereign Fund of Egypt CEO Ayman Soliman said.
• Remittances from Egyptians abroad are set to rise 2.5% this year, climbing to USD 32.3 bn from USD 31.5 bn in 2021, according to the World Bank’s latest forecast.

*** 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: We look at the prospects for Egypt’s electronics design industry, which is a critical source of added value for electronics.

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???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Key news triggers to keep an eye on this week and next:

• PMI: Data measuring activity in Egypt’s non-oil private sector will be released tomorrow, 5 December.
• Inflation: Inflation data for November will land on Thursday, 8 December.
• Foreign reserves figures for November should be out sometime this week.
• Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday, 22 December to review interest rates.

Food Africa 2022 kicks off at Egypt International Exhibitions Center tomorrow and runs until Wednesday. More than 440 exhibitors from 28 countries will be at the food expo.

The Knowledge Hub Universities and Nova University Lisbon’s newly inaugurated Cairo campus will host the QS Reimagine Education awards and conference this Tuesday and Wednesday, 6-7 December. The hybrid event will also take place online and at the Wharton School campus in Pennsylvania, and offers awards of up to USD 50k for innovative projects in higher education.

This week in the House:

• MONDAY- Western Desert exploration agreements: The General Assembly will discuss three oil exploration agreements in the Western Desert signed with Energean and Croatia-based INA; Kuwait Energy Egypt; and Egyptian National Petroleum For Exploration and Development Company (Enpedco).
• MONDAY- FRA boss to discuss fintech regs: Financial Regulatory Authority Chairman Mohamed Farid will appear before the House Economic Affairs Committee to discuss the legislative impact of amendments to the Fintech Act and the Capital Market Law.
• TUESDAY- Samir in the hot seat: Trade and Industry Minister Ahmed Samir will face questions from MPs on issues facing manufacturers, including on licensing and exports, as well as what the ministry is doing to solve the crisis in the automotive industry.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- We’re looking at a sunny day tomorrow with temperatures expected to rise to 23°C during the day tomorrow before falling to 14°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.