Good morning, good people: We’re continuing our 2022 rewind today, looking back at the year in M&A, investment and capital markets.

PSA: You’re reading the penultimate EnterpriseAM issue of 2022. We’re giving ourselves a well-earned three-day weekend to take us into the New Year, meaning that Wednesday will be the final time we appear in your inboxes this year.

It’s official: There are exceptions for FX withdrawal limits. The Central Bank of Egypt yesterday confirmed (pdf) reports that people withdrawing FX overseas for medical or educational purposes will be exempt from withdrawal limits. The central bank introduced the withdrawal limit last Thursday as part of efforts to address a growing shortage of foreign currency in Egypt and crack down on the parallel market. The limits were prompted, it said, by a spike in the number of people in Egypt using bank cards to withdraw FX overseas

Just how much has been leaving the country? The bank said that it recorded up to USD 55 mn in withdrawals in a single day, almost five fold the average withdrawals recorded this time last year. Banque Misr has seen customers withdraw USD 10 mn a day using bank cards this month, up from USD 600k usually, according to bank chief Mohamed Eletreby, who described the withdrawals as “abuse of the state’s hard currency assets,” during an interview on Kelma Akhira last night (watch, runtime: 20:01).

QUAKE WATCH- A magnitude 5 earthquake took place in the Gulf of Suez in the early hours of the morning, according to the National Seismological Network. Tremors were felt as far away as Cairo, Beni Suef and Sohag but no casualties or damage to buildings have been reported, Al Masry Al Youm reported.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

Israel’s far-right government could be sworn in Thursday: Israeli PM-elect Benjamin Netanyahu will push to swear in his new coalition government on Thursday, the Times of Israel reported yesterday. The Likud leader last week reached an agreement to form a coalition with several far-right nationalist and religious parties, putting the country on the verge of the most extreme government in its history.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

As virus cases surge, China is pushing ahead unwinding zero-covid rules: China is scrapping its quarantine requirement for travelers starting 8 January as it continues to end its strict virus curbs. Arrivals to China have been forced to undergo a mandatory quarantine since March 2020, which initially lasted three weeks but has since been reduced to the current five days. The announcement comes despite Chinese hospitals now operating at full capacity as the unwinding of restrictions causes the virus to sweep through the country. (Reuters | Bloomberg | BBC | WSJ | FT)

Subscribe to Enterprise

Good news for car ins. policyholders: Ins. companies will now only be able to write off a vehicle when the repair bill exceeds 50% of the cost of the policy, under new regulations introduced by the Financial Regulatory Authority to protect policyholders. Also under the new rules:

• Insurers are required to use a third party to estimate the car’s market value in case of a disagreement with the policyholder.
• When a policyholder switches providers, the insurer is obliged to share the value of losses with the new company.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Companies have T-minus four days to register with the Egyptian Tax Authority’s e-invoicing system after the Finance Ministry earlier this month gave companies an additional two weeks. Only 150k companies had signed up to the new system as of the end of November, well below a sought goal of 1 mn companies to register under the system.

REMEMBER- This deadline no longer applies to the self-employed: The Finance Ministry pushed the deadline for self-employed professionals — including doctors, pharmacists and lawyers — to 30 April 2023 after widespread opposition to the system.

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

*** It’s Going Green day — your weekly briefing of all things green in Egypt: Enterprise’s green economy vertical focuses each Tuesday on the business of renewable energy and sustainable practices in Egypt, everything from solar and wind energy through to water, waste management, sustainable building practices and how you can make your business greener, whatever the sector.

In today’s issue: The green economy in 2022: COP27 was the news event of the year. In Part I of our Year in Review on the green economy, we took a look at how the impacts of climate change caused problems for livestock and bee farmers last year, as well as the fishing and tourism industries that depend on our Red Sea coral reef ecosystems. This week, we recap the single most important climate event of 2022: the COP27 UN climate summit held in Sharm El Sheikh in November.