Dolphinus to import Israeli gas by 1Q19?

Delegates from more than 40 countries attending the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s African caucus gather again today in Sharm El Sheikh, the Investment Ministry says. Today is the final day of the two-day session.

Egyptian economic growth outstrips estimate for North Africa as a whole: Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, IMF Resident Representative for Egypt Reza Bakir noted that the reforms have pushed Egypt’s GDP growth far ahead of the projected average for North Africa. The IMF sees Egypt’s GDP growing at a 5.5% clip by the end of FY2018-19, while North Africa is projected to grow by 4.3% during the same period. Egypt is also on track to grow faster than Sub-Saharan Africa, where GDP growth for 2018 is expected to come in at 3.5%, growing marginally to 3.75% in 2019, Bakir told Al Shorouk.

Also in Sharm El Sheikh this week, the CBE is hosting the annual meeting of the Association of African Central Banks from 5- 9 August.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is in Washington today,kicking off a two-day visit that will see him talk over issues with figures including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, according to a ministry statement. Shoukry is also set to meet with White House National Security Advisor John Bolton to discuss the US’ aid program to Egypt, including economic, development and military assistance. Shoukry is also expected to meet with US business leaders while in DC.

Meanwhile: EgyptAir is gearing up to launch direct flights between Cairo and Washington, DC, EgyptAir Airlines Chairman and Managing Director Sherif Ezzat told reporters yesterday, Al Mal reports. Ezzat said the service would start “in the coming period.” The national flag carrier is also expecting to launch a Cairo-Shanghai route in four months’ time once it receives the necessary approvals from China, according to Ezzat.

[Redacted] has hit the fan in Venezuela: Six people have been arrested after two drones laden with explosives were launched at a rally at which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was speaking on Saturday, Reuters reports.

The transition at Goldman Sachs will include the appointment of James Esposito as co-head of its securities division, sources familiar with the matter tell the FT. The appointment, which is expected to be announced today, was the first since the designation of David Solomon as the next CEO of the bank.

It’s going to be hot this week,with temperatures across the country set to rise starting today, according to the Meteorological Authority, which sees Cairo reaching highs of 36-37°C. The mercury will break north of 40°C on Friday in the capital city, according to our favorite weather app. Upper Egypt is expected to see highs of up to 43°C, with milder temperatures expected across the North Coast. A week in Sahel might just be the ticket, folks.

CORRECTION- Cairo Development and Investment minority shareholders have until 8 August to sell their stakes at EGP 4.20 / share before the company completes its voluntary delisting from the EGX. We completely goofed yesterday in translating the name of the company in question — it is not Cairo Investment and Real Estate Development (CIRA), the high-profile education outfit that EFG Hermes is taking public with law firm Al Tamimi & Co. acting as legal counsel. We have corrected the story on our website. As always, we work very hard to ensure Enterprise is error-free — please reach out to us anytime on editorial@enterprise.press if you think we’ve made a mistake. If we have, we’ll set it right.

The Egyptian National Railways’ agreement with Russia’s Transmashholding to supply 1,300 railway cars was the most significant piece of news to come out of last night’s talk shows, which otherwise had very little to offer.

Transmashholding wins contract to supply National Railways with 1,300 railway cars: Russia’s Transmashholding appears to have won the drawn out tender to supply the Egyptian National Railways (ENR) with 1,300 railway cars, ENR head Ashraf Raslan tells Yahduth Fi Masr’s Sherif Amer (watch; runtime: 6:14). Egypt will pay around EGP 17 bn to buy the cars, with delivery expected to take place in a period of six months to a year, he added. His statements follow a meeting between company officials, Russian First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Georgy Kalamanov, Raslan and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi yesterday to discuss the contract, according to an Ittihadiya statement. Russia "is interested in cooperation with Egypt in the area of railway transport and plans to use all possibilities to help Egypt maintain and develop its railways,” said Kalamanov at the meeting.

Raslan noted that the contracts have not been signed yet and negotiations on the fine print are ongoing. Transmashholding appears to have beat out China’s CRRC Corporation Limited, which was also a frontrunner to win the contract. The agreement stipulates that the locomotives meet a 40% domestic component requirement by cooperating with either SEMAF or one of the Military Production Ministry’s factories. Ittihadiya Spokesman Bassam Rady also phoned in to Al Hayah fi Masr and Masaa DMC to further discuss the agreement and Egypt’s railway upgrade plans (watch, runtime: 8:20 and runtime: 7:10). (Disclaimer: we had incorrectly been noting this as a tender to supply locomotives in our previous coverage).

Economic ties with Italy have not been hampered by the ongoing investigations into Giulio Regeni’s murder, Rady told Masaa DMC’s Amr Khalil as they discussed Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Milanesi’s visit to Cairo (we have the full story in Egypt in the News, below). Rady made sure to stress that Egyptian authorities have cooperated in full to solve the case and bring the perpetrators to justice (watch, runtime: 7:10).

Civil servants might see longer working hours in exchange for a four-day work week, as part of a proposal from the Central Authority for Organization and Administration (CAOA) to reduce bureaucrats’ work weeks. According to Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer’s sources, longer days are one of several ideas CAOA is looking at ahead of presenting a proposal to the prime minister in a month. The proposal is meant to cut costs and reduce congestion around government agencies, while increasing efficiency (watch, runtime: 4:20).

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid recapped Minister Sameh Shoukry’s agenda during his two-day visit to Washington with Hona Al Asema’s Reham Ibrahim (watch, runtime: 7:25).

Last week’s removal of a deceased patient’s corneas at Qasr Al Aini Hospital continues to be an issue of concern for Ibrahim, who hosted former assistant health minister Abdel Hamid Abaza for a prolonged discussion of the issue on Hona Al Asema. Abaza’s verdict is that the move is legal but somewhat ethically dodgy (watch, runtime: 1:45 and runtime: 2:34).

Dolphinus Holdings could start importing natural gas from Israel as early as 1Q2019, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters yesterday. “Imports will start in small quantities first and will gradually increase to reach their climax in September 2019,” they add, without providing detail on the specific quantities or prices. Dolphinus has been waiting to receive approval from the natural gas market regulator to begin gas imports from Israel’s Delek and Noble under a USD 15 bn agreement signed earlier this year.

Background: Sources had previously said that the first import license would be issued before the end of 2018. We had heard last year that BB Energy, Fleet Energy, and Qalaa Holdings’ TAQA Arabia were given preliminary approval for import licenses. The Natural Gas Regulatory Authority made public on Thursday the fees it will charge the private sector for using the state’s natural gas grid for various commercial activities including, transmission, shipping, distribution, and supply. There’s been no official line, however, on when the first import license will be issued. The deregulation of the natural gas industry is one of several steps on the way to turning Egypt into regional hub for natural gas exports.

CORRECTION- While we’re on the subject, the Natural Gas Regulatory Authority will be charging private players USD 0.38/MMBtu to use the national grid for the first year of the program and not USD 0.038/MMBtu as we mistakenly wrote in our coverage yesterday. We apologize for the error. The entry has been corrected on our website.

INVESTMENT WATCH- Saudi’s Atraba says it wants to invest USD 1 bn in Egypt medical city: Saudi Arabia’s Atraba Integrated Holding is mulling an investment of as much as USD 1 bn to build a new medical city in Egypt, Chairman Fawaz Bashraheel tells Amwal Al Ghad in an interview. The company is looking to partner with local players on the project. Bashraheel refused to disclose more details, saying that an official announcement would be made soon. The government has positioned its passage of the Universal Healthcare Act earlier this year as helping drum up interest in the nation’s health care sector. Among the Saudi entrants to the field are Saudi German Hospital, with a USD 500 mn project in Alexandria, and Spine Medical’s planned investment in the new capital.

IPO WATCH- Unionaire Group pushes planned IPO to end-2019: It looks like Unionaire Group has once again decided to postpone its planned EGX debut to the end of 2019, from 1Q2019, owner and Chairman Mohamed Fathy tells Amwal Al Ghad in an interview. The group is also considering a dual listing on an international bourse, he said, adding that the company intends to float around 30-40% of its shares. Unionaire Group had originally been expected to list in 2H2018, as we noted previously, and has said it would use the proceeds for a new export-focused industrial complex.

IPO WATCH- Galina-Agrofreeze looks to spin off and list its frozen fruit and veggies business on the EGX: Galina-Agrofreeze Fruits & Vegetables is looking to spin off its frozen fruit and vegetables processing business from its fruit concentrates unit, with plans to list the former on the EGX in the next two months, Chairman Abdel Wahed Soliman tells Al Mal in an interview. The firm plans to delist from the small- and mid-cap stock exchange (Nilex) ahead of listing between 25-40% of the frozen foods unit on the EGX. Galina expects to hire a bookrunner for the transaction in the next few days, according to Soliman.

Galina is also in talks with Misr Bank-Europe for a EUR 5 mn loan to finance overseas expansion plans, Soliman also said, adding that the amount will be used to fund the establishment of a packaging and production station in the Netherlands, where the company recently launched a unit that will serve as a starting point for its entry into the European retail and consumer market. Galina recently also expanded into GCC countries, he added.

NIB considers partial sale of stakes in five state-owned banks: Egypt’s state-owned National Investment Bank (NIB) is considering partially exiting its stake in five banks either through an offering on the EGX or a direct sale to an investor, managing director Mahmoud Montasser tells Al Masdar. The bank is looking to sell some of its shares in Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Banque Misr subsidiary Misr Bank-Europe, Misr Iran Development Bank, the Arab Investment Bank, and the Export Development Bank, said Montasser. NIB is discussing the potential divestments with the central bank, with the latter having the final say in the matter, he added. What Montasser was not clear about is whether the stake sale would be part of the state privatization program. None of these banks were included in the list of the program’s 24 companies.

EARNINGS WATCH- The National Bank of Kuwait-Egypt reported a 36% y-o-y increase in 1H2018 net profit to EGP 988.8 mn, up from EGP 726.7 mn in the same period last year, according to an EGX filing (pdf).

Saudi recalls ambassador to Canada and suspends future investments: Saudi Arabia has recalled its ambassador to Canada and given Canada’s ambassador to Riyadh 24 hours to leave, according to a statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry. The kingdom will also suspend new trade and investment with Canada. The move was taken after Canada’s Foreign Ministry urged Riyadh to release arrested civil rights activists Raif and Samar Badawi. “KSA through its history has not and will not accept any form of interfering in the internal affairs of the Kingdom. The KSA considers the Canadian position an attack on the KSA and requires a firm stance to deter who attempts to undermine the sovereignty of the KSA,” reads the Saudi Foreign Ministry statement on Twitter. See coverage in Canada’s Globe and Mail as well as Reuters and Bloomberg.

Riyadh is also in the headlines after reopening the Bab El Mandeb strait to oil tankers passing through the area to the Suez Canal, the Saudi state news agency reported on Saturday. Saudi authorities have reinforced security around the strait, which was closed down last month after two Saudi oil tankers were attacked by Yemen Houthi rebels.

KSA readies to meet supply demand when Iran sanctions returns: Crude oil exports from the OPEC’s GCC members fell by about 1.1 mn bbl/d last month, after surging in June, according to Bloomberg. These additional stockpiles should help the GCC, and Saudi in particular, to offset the sanctions that will be re-imposed on Iran.

The Federation of Egyptian Industries is expected to present its remarks on the new draft of the Customs Act this week to the Finance Ministry after it laid out its recommendations and reservations last week.

The central bank will next consider interest rates on Thursday, 16 August.

Orange Egypt’s board of directors is meeting on 27 August to look into the company’s proposal for a voluntary delisting, according to a statement to the EGX (pdf).

A delegation of 60 unnamed US companies is set to visit Egypt in October to explore potential investments across a variety of sectors. A Japanese trade delegation is also due to visit the new capital and Suez Canal by the end 2018.

Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi met with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo yesterday to discuss ways to boost cooperation across the board, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. Milanesi also met with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi for similar talks, Ittihadiya said yesterday.

The visit is the first from a high-ranking Italian official since PhD student Giulio Regeni’s murder in Cairo in 2016, the Associated Press notes. The case came up during the meeting, with Shoukry reportedly reaffirming Egypt’s commitment to resolving the case and cooperating with Italy to bring the perpetrators to justice. Milanesi praised Egypt for its cooperation in the ongoing investigation during a joint presser with Shoukry after their meeting, according to Reuters. Italian prosecutors had recently examined CCTV footage retrieved from the metro station where Regeni was last seen before he disappeared and had concluded that the video contained gaps that required “further sophisticated examinations.” Discussions on Regeni topped coverage of Egypt in the foreign press this morning.

Italy wants to establish a university in Egypt: In addition to regional issues including illegal migration to Europe and the situations in Libya and Gaza, the two officials also discussed ways to enhance economic and trade ties, with Milanesi expressing Italy’s interest in establishing an Italian university in Egypt in partnership with a state university. No further details were provided.

We anticipate this to be a frequent talking point in the foreign press: Former New York Times Cairo bureau chief David Kirkpatrick’s book Into the Hands of the Soldiers, which details his coverage of the deposition of Ikhwan-era president Mohamed Morsi and its handling by Obama administration, won a rave review from the Guardian’s Lloyd Green. The book, which will be out on stands tomorrow, is likely to impact the conversation on Egypt for the foreseeable future. Excerpts from the book have already been used as a talking point when the biggest story on Egypt in foreign press last week was the Trump administration releasing USD 195 mn in military aid to Egypt.

Other headlines worth a look this morning:

• Egyptian, Saudi, and Russian athletes participated in the opening ceremony of the Paris 2018 Gay Games, writes Haaretz.
• Xinhua shines the spotlight on the Giza-based Cairo Animal Rescue Team for giving a “voice to the voiceless.”

The nation’s columnists are largely preoccupied with the minors who were detained for smuggling goods out of Ismailia and the infamous news reporter who interviewed them. Amr El Shobaki and Waguih Wahba each take to the pages of Al Masry Al Youm to lambast Rassd’s Salwa Hussein her interview, which El Shobaki says is full of contrived patriotism and completely devoid of professionalism or ethics. Wahba decries Hussein and the police present at the time for failing to respect the detainees’ human rights simply because they were in handcuffs at the time, and says that this is reflective of Egypt’s narrow understanding of human rights as exclusive to activists. Al Shorouk’s Khaled Sayed Ahmed, meanwhile, sees the interview and the outpouring of sympathy for the detainees as a warning sign for the government that the public is reaching its wit’s end with reforms.

There is a clear “split between a metropolitan elite and a populist hinterland” when it comes to political ideology, and Egypt is no exception, Gideon Rachman writes for the Financial Times. This divide is behind the rise of many right-wing nationalist leaders around the world who are disavowed by residents of big cities, suggesting that the majority of voter power actually lies with less educated, less affluent urbanites. In Egypt, for example, “many of the urban middle classes, who had campaigned for democracy in 2011, ended up supporting a military coup two years later because they feared the elected Muslim Brotherhood government was turning the country into a theocracy.”

What exactly is at the heart of this urban-rural divide? Part of it is the difference in education levels and socioeconomic standing — city dwellers, Rachman says, “are more likely to have travelled or studied abroad, or to be recent immigrants.” They are also less likely to be drawn to the nationalism-based rallying cry employed by US President Donald Trump and Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, which has vowed to create a “better” or “greater” version of their countries.

The Open University has a series of 60-second crash course videos on its YouTube channel for virtually every major discipline there is. Take this “adventure in economics” video for instance, which takes you through the motions of development of economic theory, briefly explaining concepts such as the invisible hand and free market economy, among others, each within the span of one minute (watch, runtime: 6:41).

Senior Hamas officials have reportedly accepted the terms of an Egypt and UN-proposed ceasefire agreement with Israel on the condition of eased border restrictions, according to Jerusalem Online. Senior Hamas leaders returned to Gaza from Cairo last week to discuss with other local leaders the proposed plan, which involves a prisoner swap and the construction of a seaport and airport.

The EGPC received a USD 200 mn loan from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on 31 July, which will be used to finance the expansion of state-owned MIDOR’s refining facility, banking sources tell Al Shorouk. The loan has a five-year tenor, they added, and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) acted as financial adviser for the EGPC on the agreement. MIDOR had secured a USD 1.2 bn loan from France’s Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, and Italy’s CDP in 2016 to finance the USD 2.2 bn project, which will expand its refining capacity to 175k barrels of crude per day from a current 115k barrels. The project is being developed by Italy’s Technip, which had signed a USD 1.7 bn agreement with MIDOR in June. Afreximbank said in June it is planning to provide as much as USD 1 bn in funding to Egypt this year.

ACWA Power Egypt is a top contender for the contract to develop a 200 MW solar power plant in Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt, having presented the lowest feed-in tariff rate of EGP 2.73 per kWh, Regional Director Hassan Amin tells Amwal Al Ghad. Amin did not disclose the expected investment value or timeline for the development of the plant. Competitors for the tender include a consortium made up of Elsewedy, EDF Energy, and Marubeni; another made up of Orascom Construction and Engie; a third with Enerpal Group and Actis; and a fourth made up of Scatec Solar and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures. The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) began receiving offers for the 200 MW solar power plant in March. The bidding window was pushed several times to allow the ministry time to settle on a base feed-in tariff for the project.

XD-Egemac is set to begin operating three new transformer stations connecting the Benban solar farm to the national grid by the end of the month, company chairman Medhat Ramadan tells Amwal Al Ghad. The company had already begun operating one station last October, and is currently running trial operations on the remaining three. The four stations cost a combined total of EGP 1.3 bn, Ramadan previously said.

Investors are expected to have completed the construction of 700 new factories in Badr Industrial City by the end of FY2018-19, head of the Badr City Investors Association Bahaa Adly tells Amwal Al Ghad. Textiles are expected to be the predominant industry in the area, but factories for the manufacturing of textiles, engineering, chemicals, and pharma will also be setting up shop, he adds.

The Environment Ministry is drafting legislation that would create a national authority for natural protectorates, Environment Minister Yasmin Fouad said yesterday, Al Mal reports. The ministry intends to tender off 30 protectorates to be developed and managed by the private sector, with the first batch set to include Wadi Degla, the Petrified Forest, and Ras Muhammad. The contracts will likely be awarded on a usufruct (right-to-use) basis, spanning five or 10 years. This move appears to be part of the ministry’s ongoing plan to develop natural protectorates, which saw it allocate EGP 70 mn to the project in May. On a separate note, the minister said that work was ongoing to draft a proposal that would see garbage collection fees on electricity bills rise to EGP 28 a month, up from a current EGP 4.

Air Cairo will begin operating a once-weekly flight from Luxor to Milan as of 28 October, in addition to a Hurghada-Milan route, Commercial Director Essam Azab said, according to eTurbo News. The airline will also operate flights between Sharm El Sheikh and Venice and Bologna during the winter season, according to Azab. Air Cairo already operates direct flights from Milan to Sharm El Sheikh and Marsa Alam.

Executives from Latvia’s KleinTech Services met with their counterparts from National Railway Authority subsidiary TransIT to discuss potential cooperation on upgrading Egypt’s railway system, Software Engineer Oleg Petryshyn tells Al Shorouk. KleinTech submitted a formal offer to install a radar system for train tracking and control, as well as train-to-train communication networks, he said, making no mention of the cost. Egypt has been working on a broader overhaul of the country’s rail system to avoid further accidents from occurring.

The Endowments Ministry is considering launching two investment funds with a combined capital of EGP 3 bn that would rise gradually to EGP 10 bn over two years, Minister Mohamed Gomaa said, Amwal Al Ghad reports. We had heard earlier this year that the ministry had tapped EFG Hermes, Beltone, and CI Capital to help restructure its asset portfolio, which has been initially valued at EGP 800 bn and includes real estate and land in Greece. The ministry had also expressed interest in investing EGP 1 bn in the EGX this year.

Egyptian electronics manufacturer SICO is currently in talks with four banks for several facilitated loans worth a combined EGP 550 mn to finance its investment plans over the next three years, CEO Mohamed Salem tells Amwal Al Ghad. SICO has reportedly already secured a EGP 172 mn loan from Banque Misr and another EGP 40 mn loan from QNB.

Nestlé Egypt is looking to increase its exports 20% y-o-y in 2018 from a current USD 50 mn as it eyes further expansion in North African markets, CEO Moataz El Hout said, according to Al Masry Al Youm. The company is also working on gradually increasing its reliance on local raw materials, El Hout said, adding that 40% of the company’s production inputs are sourced domestically.

The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) has agreed to give 20 investors from the New Cairo 1,000 factories project a six-month extension to the deadline to either begin construction or production, or risk losing their plots, says Hesham Kamal, a member of the factories’ investors union. The deadline expires in January 2019. The IDA had previously issued several warnings, which the investors have not been heeding.

The House of Representatives’ Human Rights Committee Chair Alaa Abed plans to introduce an amendment to the Press Syndicate Act that would bar those who have not received journalism degrees from being members of the syndicate, Abed tells Youm7. While the Press and Media Act does not bar non-members from practicing journalism, the law does require that a minimum of 70% of an outlet’s staff be members of the group. We’d also like to point out that plenty of journalists we admire, including the amazing Matt Levine from Bloomberg, lack journalism school credentials.

Egypt’s military announced yesterday that forces in Sinai have killed at least 52 militants and destroyed 26 hideouts in the last few days as part of the ongoing and extensive anti-terror campaign in the northern part of the peninsula.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi ratified yesterday the Foreign Campuses Act, which sets the rules for foreign universities opening campuses in Egypt, Ahram Online reports. The House of Representatives had signed off on the law last month.

Noah’s taste in football is certainly better than his jokes: When he’s not roasting us (deservingly so with that Donkey-gate nonsense) and being a generally poor substitute for Jon Stewart, the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah is an avid football fan. With Mohamed Salah being one of his favorite football players and his jokes still being overly preachy, we happily invite Noah to quit the comedy gig and consider a career as a football commentator. That or learn at the feet of the great John Oliver (we look forward to your emails, Noah fans).