Cleopatra, Alameda acquisition talks collapse

Well, that news slowdown about which we were whining this morning? It didn’t last.

THE BIG STORY THIS AFTERNOON is the end of a tie-up that would have seen EGX-listed Cleopatra Hospitals Group and Alameda Healthcare combine their businesses to create the country’s largest healthcare group by far. Neither party is saying where the transaction went off the rails, but each confirmed to us today that it did not crumble under pressure from regulators. The transaction would have been one of the larger M&As in recent memory in any sector. We have the rundown in this afternoon’s Speed Round, below.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD remains the shutdown of the US Colonial Pipeline, which still dominates the front pages of the global business press this afternoon. Traders are searching for alternative sources of fuel amid fears of shortages across the eastern US after a ransomware cyberattack took down the vast Colonial Pipeline, Bloomberg reports. The Biden administration has responded with emergency powers to keep supplies flowing and calm fears of a shortage, according to the Financial Times. The Colonial is the largest refined products pipeline in the country and transports some 2.5 mn barrels a day from the Gulf of Mexico up the eastern seaboard — or about 45% of the needs of the East coast.

More 300 Palestinians have been injured in violent clashes at Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem that erupted today as Israelis celebrated Jerusalem Day — the annual celebration of the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. Reuters and The Associated Press have the story.

BIGGEST FAMILY BUSINESSES- Mansour Group is the second-largest family business in the Arab world, just after Saudi’s Olayan Group, which topped the list released by Forbes today. The list ranks family firms in our neck of the woods on the size of their holdings and number of employees as well as diversification, performance, and legacy. Elaraby Group is the next Egyptian business mentioned on the list, ranking in at #53, followed by Hassan Allam Holding at #75, and Memaar Al Morshedy at #82. The Orientals Group (owners of Oriental Weavers) also made it onto the list at #93.

** So, when do we eat? We sit down to eat at 6:38pm, and we’ll have until 3:26am to eat and hydrate.

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

• The IMF will wrap up its second review of our USD 5.2 bn standby loan agreement at the end of June.
• Some 1.7 mn doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are being delivered today, the Health Ministry said yesterday.
• Uber’s monopoly over the Egyptian ride-hailing market might be coming under threat, as UK-based company UVA prepares to launch next month.

Speaking of Uber, the ride-hailing company is raising fares in Egypt after the recent hike in fuel prices “to ensure that drivers continue to have sustainable earnings,” according to an email picked up by Ahram Online. In Cairo, the base fare for an average UberX ride will go to EGP 7.50 from EGP 7.25, while the EGP 2.70 per kilometer will be pushed to EGP 2.85.

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Africa-based startups have until 26 May to sign up for the French government-sponsored AFD Digital Challenge, an annual startup competition (pdf) run by the French Development Agency (AFD). This year, the competition is targeting startups that work on environmental protection and tackle carbon emissions. The 10 startups chosen will receive a package of technical and financial support worth EUR 20k.

The IMF will conduct on 1 June a second review of targets set under Egypt’s USD 5.2 bn standby loan. The loan was approved in June 2020.

The El Gouna International Squash Open 2021 and the CIB PSA World Tour Finals will go ahead as planned, PSA World Tour announced. The El Gouna Open will take place on 20-28 May, while the CIB-sponsored World Tour Finals will run on 22-27 June in Cairo.

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SUPERCYCLE WATCH- Iron ore and copper prices are showing no signs of slowing, with iron ore futures surging more than 10% this morning and copper hitting a new high, according to Bloomberg. Both metals are leading a year-long raw materials and commodities boom that has gained new momentum in recent days, with the Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index now at its highest in nearly a decade having risen for 14 out of the past 15 days.

Analysts are collectively scratching their heads over today’s gains, but some have suggested that loose monetary policy and incoming environmental rules in China are simultaneously pumping demand and squeezing supply.

The bull run is stoking inflation worries, although some analysts suggest price press will be transitory as big buyers move to stabilize prices. However, a risk remains: policy tightening could come sooner than hoped.

The rally isn’t yet having an impact on inflation here in Egypt: Annual inflation slowed down in April due to a base effect from the same month last year, and analysts are saying the bull market is yet to pressure input costs. We have chapter and verse in the news well, below.

And we’ll get more of an idea how other emerging economies this week when central banks in China, Brazil, and India report inflation data. Inflation rates in developing countries are at near record-lows and the economic recovery is continuing to stoke investor interest in the asset class, Bloomberg reports.

But one indicator of inflation in EMs is at a 13-year high: Citigroup’s EM inflation-surprise index reached its highest level since 2008 last month, “a sign investors may be underestimating the scale of the resurgence,” the business news information service says. “If the stimulus continues, at some point it will become inflationary,” said Sanjiv Bhatia, chief investment officer at Pembroke Emerging Markets. “At some point, we believe it will become a problem.”

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The upcoming Tokyo Olympics aren’t too popular in Japan: A survey has found 60% of the population want this year’s games cancelled thanks to fears of covid-19. The news comes just three months before they begin, Reuters reports. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said today that he has never “put the Olympics first” and that the games will go on with precautionary measures in place. The 2020 games, which have already been delayed a year due to the pandemic, are scheduled to begin on 23 July.

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???? Doge is following in Laika’s footsteps (sort of): Elon Musk’s SpaceX has announced DOGE-1, a mission to the moon next year that will be funded entirely by the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

Said with a completely straight face: “This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth’s orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce … We're excited to launch DOGE-1 to the Moon,” Tom Ochinero, SpaceX VP of commercial sales, said.

An interplanetary hustle: Musk single-handedly quashed Dogecoin’s recent surge on Saturday after calling it a “hustle” on an episode of Saturday Night Live, sending the currency down by almost 30% during the show. The SpaceX announcement couldn’t fully resuscitate the doge, down 12.8% at dispatch.

Elsewhere in crypto-world, Ether has hit a new record high, smashing past USD 4k for the first time today after rising almost 7%, CNBC reports. Ether now has a total market value of USD 476.3 bn, just under half of BTC’s USD 1.1 tn.

Bidding for traction, voice-based social network Clubhouse is expanding to support Android devices, Bloomberg reports. Clubhouse for Android launched for US users Sunday, and is expected to expand to other English speaking markets within the coming weeks. The Android version will presumably expand the app’s reach, though joining is still limited to being invited by a current user.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

We’re sure everyone will be tuning into the Ramadan TV series finales that are coming out today. It’s always sad to say goodbye to our favorite characters.

If the inevitable Mosalsalat drama doesn’t cut it, there’s always this whale documentary: Disney+ has teamed up with National Geographic to create the docuseries Secrets of the Whales. Filmed over three years in 24 locations and narrated by Sigourney Weaver, creator Brian Skerry captures previously unseen behavioural patterns of five types of whales that suggest their communication methods and social hierarchies may be far more complicated than previously thought. You can find the docuseries on Disney+ or OSN Streaming.

⚽ It’s the local derby tonight: Al Ahly and Zamalek kick off at 9:30pm tonight in the Egyptian Premier League. Let’s keep it civil, people.

Also going down tonight in the EPL: El Gouna vs. Aswan, National Bank vs. Ismaily, and Smouha vs. Wadi Degla.

And over in the UK we have a relegation dogfight: Fulham will make a final stand to stay in the Premier League when they play the almost-safe Burnley at 9pm.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Talk Art podcast hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament are out with a new book that is part-guide to an intelligent discussion about art and part-artistic celebration. The book of the same name aims to make artistic concepts and implementation accessible for everyone with chapters including ‘How to Navigate the Art World’, ‘Make Your Own Art’, and ‘How do I Create My Own Collection?’. The two hosts retain their fun and gossipy tones that made their podcast a hit in the US and UK, taking away the occasional elitism that accompanies the art scene.

???? TOMORROW’S WEATHER- We’re in for a (relative) respite from the past week’s sweltering heat tomorrow: Expect the mercury to dip slightly to 35°C during the day tomorrow, and 18°C at night, according to our favorite weather app.

Alameda Healthcare and EGX-listed Cleopatra Hospitals Group (CHG) will not be tying up, Cleopatra said in a brief regulatory filing (pdf) this afternoon. Cleo said the “sale and purchase agreement to acquire Alameda Healthcare Group in Egypt … has been terminated.” The news comes nearly five months after the two parties announced an agreement that would have seen them create the country’s largest private-sector healthcare group by a wide margin. The transaction would have combined Alameda properties including the flagship As Salam International and Dar El Fouad hospitals with a stable of Cleopatra assets including six high-profile facilities concentrated in the greater Cairo area. CHG had aimed to close the transaction before the end of June, pending regulatory approvals.

The sticking point? Neither party is saying — but it wasn’t the regulators. Officials at both Cleopatra and Alameda, speaking on condition they not be named, told us this afternoon that neither the Ministry of Health nor the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) had factored into the decision to call off the transaction. The ECA had warned January that it was not predisposed to approve the merger.

The decision to terminate came after an extension of the long-stop date for due diligence, a source close to the transaction tells us.

What’s next for Alameda? Growth in capacity, including the opening of a 150 bed new hospital in the coming weeks and delivery of 100 more beds at As Salam International next month, as well as fresh investment modelled on the recently opened Dar El Fouad oncology center in Nasr City. “We genuinely have nothing but respect for the Cleopatra team and wish them the best going forward,” Alameda Chairman Dr. Fahad Khater told us. “Our mission is unchanged: We are building Egypt’s most dynamic platform for the delivery of quality healthcare, from preventive medicine to primary care and world-class specialities. We will continue to invest in our growth in class-A, JCI-accredited, purpose-built hospitals in Cairo and beyond — and in quality patient outcomes, just as we have always done.”

What’s next for Cleopatra? The business will continue to look at avenues to grow through acquisition, says Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations Director Hassan Fikry. The company confirmed last month that it’s in the market to acquire 51% of Alexandria Medical Services, which owns the 300-bed Alexandria New Medical Center. Last fall, it acquired a 60% stake in Bedaya Hospital. The group is also pushing ahead with ambitious targets for organic growth at its existing properties, Fikry said. “As the first institutionalized healthcare business in the industry, we continue to have first-mover advantage in a large, fast-growing market. We think Alameda is great business and wish them the best, but our focus now turns to other ways to satisfy our appetite for growth and expansion.”

How big was the transaction? The merger would have given CHG control of some 1.45k beds, equating to around 15% of beds in private sector hospitals in Greater Cairo and 4% nationwide. It would also have doubled CHG’s post-close EBITDA, according to CHG CEO Ahmed Ezzeldin. Neither party put a value on the sale, but Bloomberg suggested it was in the USD 450-500 mn range. Alameda’s El Khater, who was due to become Vice Chairman of CHG, would have owned 25% of Cleo post-transaction.

Want more background on the transaction? We had a primer here in January.

Advisors: EFG Hermes was financial advisor to CHG while Zulficar & Partners and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer were counsel. ALC Alieldean, Weshahi & Partners, Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy, White & Case and Dechert LLP were counsel to Alameda Healthcare Group, while CI Capital was financial advisor.

Annual urban headline inflation slowed in April against expectations, shrugging off rising global commodity prices thanks to a favorable base effect that offset a rise in monthly prices. Figures released today by state statistics bureau Capmas showed urban inflation fell to 4.1% in April from 4.5% in March, while the national rate (pdf) dropped to 4.4% last month, down from 4.8% the month before.

This came despite inflation accelerating on a monthly basis: Urban prices rose 0.9% during the month, compared to 0.6% in March.

Food prices fell slightly on a yearly basis, but rose month-on-month. An index measuring the cost of food in urban areas fell 0.3% y-o-y but increased 2.3% from March. Other goods and services including education, health, and utilities edged up nationwide on an annual basis but remained unchanged from March.

Analysts had expected inflation to inch up: Beltone had expected inflation to increase to 4.7%, while Naeem Brokerage had pencilled in growth of 4.8%. Both attributed the unexpected slowdown to a favorable base effect from last year, when inflation measured 5.9%.

A surprise: “Slower than anticipated demand-pull patterns” likely led to more muted price growth in some food items, which contributed to the overall reading coming “well below our estimate,” Naeem Brokerage said in a note this morning. The higher monthly reading reflects “cost-push factors” including higher raw materials, feed, and transportation and storage costs.

Is the Ramadan effect still with us? March’s reading had already suggested that the customary pick up in inflation that precedes Ramadan has already taken place, but Pharos’ head of research Radwa El Swaify told us that sellers may have deferred raising prices until right before the holy month began in mid-April, which justifies the higher m-o-m figure. “Rising prices were evident in the monthly numbers thanks to Ramdan,” EFG Hermes’ Mohamed Abou Basha, meanwhile, said.

Annual inflation has been mostly flat since the start of the year: Inflation has barely budged over the first four months of the year, with April’s rate just 0.2% below January’s figure. This is below the lower bound of the central bank’s 7% (+/- 2%) target range.

But what about skyrocketing global commodity prices? They may be taking more time to filter through, analysts tell us. The year-long rally in global food and metal commodities has found new momentum in recent weeks, pushing prices of some goods to all-time highs. While the boom doesn’t seem to have yet impacted domestic prices, both El Swaify and Beltone’s Alia Mamdouh expect this to change, telling us that the higher prices of raw materials will increase the cost of local production and put pressure on end prices as we head further into 2021. Tap/click here for more on how rallying commodities are affecting Egypt.

The picture will be slightly different in a few months’ time, but don’t expect runaway inflation: Beltone is pencilling in a headline rate of 6.3-6.5% by the end of the third quarter, which is still beneath the midpoint of the central bank’s target, while Pharos is forecasting the figure to climb to 5% in May and June and 6% in July and August before cooling off in 4Q2021.

Could lower inflation tempt the CBE to resume its easing cycle sooner? It’s unlikely. “Given rising food prices on a monthly basis … [and] the significant rise in international commodities prices as well as the rise in oil prices, we expect maintained interest rates in the upcoming meeting on 17 June,” Mamdouh said. The latest development in terms of annual inflation supports a rate cut by 4Q2022, she added. El Swaify, meanwhile, sees the central bank leaving rates unchanged for least another five months.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) left rates on hold for the fourth consecutive month when it met earlier this month as policymakers looked to keep Egypt’s carry trade the most attractive in the world — and anticipated heightened inflation.

Cement producers could be asked to cut production by at least 10%, as part of a proposal put forward by the Egyptian government to reduce the supply glut that is crippling the industry, two unnamed industry executives and a senior source told Reuters.

What’s the plan? Cement producers would reduce production by a baseline of 10.52% plus an additional 3.71% for each production line and 0.65% for each year since they began operating, according to one executive. This means cuts of at least 14%, while older and larger plants could face reductions of more than double that, one of the sources said.

There could be some pushback from foreign firms: The executives welcomed government action to tackle the problems in the market but said that the proposals are “unfair” for foreign companies with a long history in the country. “We don’t think [the proposal] is particularly fair, it’s biased towards some local players at the moment,” said one executive.

Cement has been flooding the market for years: Sales are less than half of the sector’s annual production capacity, which has surged to 85-87 mn tonnes in the past three years. Making matters worse was the new military-owned Beni Suef plant that came online a couple of years ago, which is adding another 13 mn tonnes of cement to the market every year.

Demand fell further last year: Annual sales declined to 41.7 mn tonnes last year from 43.8 mn in 2019. Some 49.5 mn tonnes were sold in 2017.

Without action, the problem will likely get worse later this year when another 2 mn-tonne plant is opened by Egyptian Cement in Sohag.

Some have doubts about whether production cuts are the solution: Some market participants claim that cuts will only lead local prices to rise, suggesting that boosting exports could be a solution. Authorities should require factories to export at least 5% of total production to reduce some of the extra supply instead, cement distributor and head of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce’s building materials division Ahmed El Zeiny previously told us.

One step closer to a better public transport system on the Ring Road: The Transport Ministry signed today an MoU with a consortium of local and international companies to prepare studies for the proposed bus rapid transit (BRT) system on the Cairo Ring Road, the ministry said in a statement. The new system aims to ease traffic congestion as well as reduce the use of private cars and on-road parking of microbuses.

Who’s involved? The global consortium is led by the French-based public transport company TransDev and includes Orascom, Mwasalat Misr and MCV Group.

In detail: The study will cover the transit of buses, electronic ticketing system, pedestrian crossings, locations of bus stops and how to get the trip information, as well as the integration of BRT with other means of transport. The total cost of the project will be announced upon completion of the studies, Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir said. The plans were first announced in November.

The move is part of the ministry’s plan to overhaul the country’s transportation system as well as upgrade the dreaded Ring Road. The government is investing EGP 7.3 bn to develop and maintain the road around Cairo, including a 106-km extension from El Mariouteya to the Autostrad and a 30% expansion of the Autostrad Bridge.

CORRECTION- 11 May 2021. A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled TransDev.

Orascom Development Egypt’s saw an almost 5x rise in net income in 1Q2021, reporting (pdf) this morning EGP 438.5 mn in income during the three-month period, up from EGP 92 mn last year. Revenues increased 62% to hit EGP 1.46 bn during the quarter, up from EGP 904 mn during the same period last year. Topline growth was driven by accelerated construction across the company’s projects and a 156% increase in real estate revenue.

Al Tawfeek for Financial Lease (AT Lease) almost quadrupled its net income to EGP 73.8 mn in 1Q2021, up from EGP 19.1 mn in the same quarter last year, driven by profits from an EGP 1 bn securitized bond issuance in February, according to the company’s financial statement (pdf). This came despite a dip in revenue to EGP 129.6 mn from EGP 131.3 mn last year

Arabian Cement reported a net loss of EGP 6.3 mn in 1Q2021, after turning a net profit of EGP 15.9 mn in the same period last year, according to the company’s financial statement (pdf). Revenues fell almost 40% to EGP 432.4 mn from EGP 702.8 mn last year.

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The EGX30 rose 0.4% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 819 mn (34.2% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is down 1.5% YTD.

In the green: MM Group (+4.9%), Oriental Weavers (+4.5%) and Fawry (+2.1%).

In the red: Edita (-2.2%), Ezz Steel (-1.7%) and Cleopatra Hospital (-1.6%).

The role of AI in providing access to information: Collectively, the human race speaks more than 7k languages. Of those, north of 4k have a writing system and the rest have only ever been spoken (known as low-resource languages). But even languages that have been codified in text don’t always lend themselves well to automatic translation — in fact, there are just over 100 languages that automatic translation engines (like Google Translate) are able to work with. That leaves a massive gap in potential communication across languages, which the US’ intelligence research arm IARPA is looking to bridge by funding various research teams to develop a system that can find, translate and summarize information from any low-resource language, according to the BBC.

What is a low-resource language? Common languages like English, Spanish, French and German are translated in abundance by multilingual institutions like the European Parliament, which in the last 10 years produced 1.37 bn words in 23 languages — much of which was published online, making it easily accessible to AI-powered translation engines. The algorithms that power translation systems learn from these massive human-translated data sets. The limitations arise when you want to translate languages that may be widely spoken but are not as widely published with high quality translations.

So, how does the new model work? It uses neural network technology that mimics aspects of human thought, and allows AI models to understand the meaning of words and sentences instead of just memorizing them. The concept seems simple enough, but the challenge is reducing how much data the network needs to be able to yield the desired results.

Machines use much more data to learn languages than humans do: “Whenever you study a language, you would never see the amount of data today's machine translation systems use for learning English-to-French translation,” says MIT Researcher Regina Barzilay. “You see a tiny fraction, which enables you to generalise and to understand French. So in the same way, you want to look at the next generation of machine-translation systems that can do a great job even without having this kind of data-hungry behaviour.”

The neural networks can be pre-trained to understand general features and structures of sentences, which allows researchers to harvest monolingual data on low-resource languages through the internet. Once pre-trained on many languages, the neural models can learn to translate between individual languages using very little bilingual training material.

FURTHER READING- Have you ever seen robot poetry? Read Neukom Institute for Computational Sciences director Dan Rockmore’s fascinating “What happens when machines learn to write poetry,” in the New Yorker.

9-14 May (Sunday-Friday): BIT Milano tourism expo (virtual).

12-16 May (Wednesday-Sunday): Eid El Fitr.

16-19 May (Sunday-Wednesday): The Arabian Travel Market (ATM) takes place in Dubai.

20-28 May (Thursday-Friday): Gouna International Squash Open 2021.

26 May (Wednesday): Final day for Africa-based startups to apply for the French government-sponsored AFD Digital Challenge (pdf).

27-29 May (Thursday-Saturday): Informa Markets’ Nextmove real estate exhibition, Cairo International Convention Center, Nasr City.

30 May (Sunday): Al Mal GTM is organizing the Portfolio Egypt conference under the theme ‘Growth under the weight of the pandemic.’

17 June (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

17-20 June (Thursday-Sunday) : The International Exhibition of Materials and Technologies for Finishing and Construction (Turnkey Expo), Cairo International Conference Center.

22-27 June (Tuesday-Sunday): The CIB PSA World Tour Finals for 2020-2021 will take place in Cairo.

24 June (Thursday): End of the 2020-2021 academic year (public schools).

26-29 June (Saturday-Tuesday): The Big 5 Construct Egypt, Cairo International Convention Center, Cairo, Egypt.

30 June (Wednesday): The IMF will complete a second review of targets set under the USD 5.2 bn standby loan approved in June 2020 (proposed date).

30 June (Wednesday): 30 June Revolution Day.

30 June- 15 July: National Book Fair.

July + August: Thanaweya Amma exams take place.

1 July: (Thursday): National holiday in observance of 30 June Revolution.

1 July (Thursday): Large taxpayers that have not yet signed on on to the e-invoicing platform will suffer a host of penalties, including removal from large taxpayer classification, losing access to government services and business, and losing subsidies.

15 June (Saturday): EGX-listed will have to complete filing their financial disclosures for the period ended 31 March.

19 July (Monday): Arafat Day (national holiday).

20-23 July (Tuesday-Friday): Eid Al Adha (national holiday).

23 July (Friday): Revolution Day (national holiday).

5 August (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

9 August (Monday): Islamic New Year.

12 August (Thursday): National holiday in observance of the Islamic New Year.

17-20 August (Tuesday-Friday): The World Economic Forum annual meeting, Singapore.

12-15 September (Sunday-Wednesday): Sahara Expo: the 33rd International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East.

16 September (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

30 September-2 October (Thursday-Saturday): Egypt Projects 2021 expo, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

30 September-8 October (Thursday-Friday): The Cairo International Fair, Cairo International Conference Center, Cairo, Egypt.

1 October (Friday): Expo 2020 Dubai opens.

6 October (Wednesday): Armed Forces Day.

7 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Armed Forces Day.

12-14 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Mediterranean Offshore Conference, Alexandria, Egypt.

18 October (Monday): Prophet’s Birthday.

21 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of the Prophet’s Birthday.

28 October (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

1-3 November (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Energy exhibition on power and renewable energy, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

1-12 November (Monday-Friday): 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), Glasgow, United Kingdom.

29 November-2 December (Monday-Thursday): Egypt Defense Expo.

13-17 December: United Nations Convention against Corruption, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

16 December (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

14-16 February 2022 (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Petroleum Show, Egypt International Exhibition Center, New Cairo, Egypt.

May 2022: Investment in Logistics Conference, Cairo, Egypt.

27 June-3 July 2022 (Monday-Sunday): World University Squash Championships, New Giza.

**Note to readers: Some national holidays may appear twice above. Since 2020, Egypt has observed most mid-week holidays on Thursdays regardless of the day on which they fall and may also move those days to Sundays. We distinguish below between the actual holiday and its observance.