It was our furry friends that gave us covid :(

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and congratulations for getting over the hump.

HAPPENING NOW- It is a legislation heavy news day as the House of Representatives appears to have made progress on getting some laws out the door. Most significant of which were the House Economics Committee’s amendments to the Sovereign Sukuks Act, which appear to be mostly mild and don’t seem like they will hold up the process.

THE BIG STORY in the global news so far: If you believe covid was lab-grown then you’re going to look like a conspiracy theorist by the WHO’s book. A mission by the World Health Organization to Wuhan investigating the origins of the virus said that the virus likely jumped to humans through an animal host or frozen wildlife products, finding that it’s “extremely unlikely” it came from a laboratory leak, according to Bloomberg. No further research is needed to look into the theory about a leak, Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO official, told reporters Tuesday.

CATCH UP QUICK- The top stories from this morning’s EnterpriseAM:

• We could all be signing up for covid-19 vaccinations as early as next week, according to an unconfirmed report in the local press. The news comes as the Health Ministry awaits another 300k doses of Sinopharm’s entry “soon.”
• Egypt sold USD 3.75 bn in USD-denominated eurobonds on Monday at “significantly lower” yields than recent issuances.
• And in M&A news, GSK has eyes only for Hikma, saying it won’t open talks on its assets in Egypt with rival bidders Rameda and Acdima.

*** You’re reading Issue #3 of EnterprisePM, our afternoon briefing on what’s going on in Egypt and emerging markets — and your guide to where you may want to spend your time and money tonight. You can subscribe to Enterprise by hitting the link in the nice green box below:

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???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

You (or your spawn) have until midnight to start applying to private domestic universities by uploading your educational certificates to the government’s new UCAS-style portal.

For photo nerds (like us): Cairo Photo Week is coming up next month, running 11-20 March across a bunch of awesome Downtown Cairo venues. Sign up for workshops and master classes on everything from analog photography (we love the smell of fixer in the morning) to sessions on portraiture, food photography, shooting for e-commerce, and fashion. We’re not cancelling covid like so many of y’all are, but this is nearly enough to lure us out of our lair. You can learn more on the IG or El Face.

Need a photo fix before then? The world’s oldest photo journal has just put 165 years of back issues online, spanning 1853 to 2018. All issues are available to read without charge — making the slightly clunky interface worth wrestling with until you get the hang of it.

It’s probably still too early to think about summer vacation if it involves travel outside our borders — there’s no clarity on which countries might let us in, let alone what the quarantine protocols in place might be.

BUT, but, but … it’s definitely time to start thinking about spring break, which takes place anywhere between mid-February and early April at most internationals schools in Egypt. Come to think of it, you might want to start thinking about your summer staycation, too: Act now before the best rental properties go. Are you looking at Sinai? El Gouna? Sahel? With the clock ticking down toward Ramadan, the early bird will get the worm on this one, folks. (It’s T-63 days until the Holy Month, nice people.)

Speaking of travel and, uhm … fantasies: The price of real estate and rentals in central Rome is falling. If only we were admissible — thanks, covid. Check out the FT’s market report and buying guude.

The Golden Globes are fast approaching, with the ceremony set to take place on 28 February. This year’s event will be held virtually (no surprise there) with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler reprising their roles as hosts. You can check out the full list of nominees here.

Other award shows happening this year:

• The Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG Awards) will be handed out on Sunday, 4 April after being postponed from 14 March. The nominees were announced earlier this week.
• The Oscars will take place on Sunday, 25 April and will honor the best films released between 1 January 2020, and 28 February 28 2021. You can check out 2021 Oscars predictions from Variety and Vogue.
• News, daytime and primetime Emmy award nominations and ceremonies are more of a 2H2021 thing.

The BBC has gathered a list of the top 21 awards contenders for 2021 across all film ceremonies.

???? FOR YOUR COMMUTE-

Has covid reset the rules for night owls — people whose chronotype means they’re more productive at 3am than at 3pm? Does this mean that as a nation of late-risers we get a pass? (Not that Enterprise readers are late risers — about 1/5th of our daily readership has opened and started reading Enterprise within 10 minutes of our hitting “send” at 6am…) Check out The new rules for night owl workers in the WSJ.

A word of very sage advice: What you do is not who you are. Even if you love it to pieces, like we do.

New EU legislation could force Big Tech companies to pay media outlets to display news, mimicking a similar bill in Australia that has Google and Facebook threatening to turn off access to their search engines in those jurisdictions, the Financial Times reports.

The Grandson of the dude who made Abu Dhabi rich plans a USD 135 mn “underwater international space station”: Fabien Cousteau — the grandson of marine conservation pioneer Jacques Cousteau — is planning to build the largest ever underwater habitat, reports Bloomberg. Blueprints show the so-called Project Proteus consisting of a giant steel starfish, surrounded with modular pods used as laboratories, sleeping quarters, and medical bays. Data captured from Proteus could improve scientists’ understanding of ocean salinity, acidity, temperature variations, and pollution while also benefiting pharma companies by gathering samples of algae, coral, and fish, Cousteau said. The project will opt out of federal funding, instead looking to philanthropists and private companies looking to profit from its discoveries.

Fun Fact: Grandpa Jacques was behind the discovery of oil in the Arabian Gulf and he said in a 1991 interview that “It was us who made the emirate of Abu Dhabi rich.

Meanwhile, the UAE is approaching Mars as we speak, marking the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission, reports The Associated Press. The orbiter, called Amal, made a nearly seven month trip and is expected to perform an intricate, high-stakes series of turns and engine firings to maneuver into Mars's orbit. Around 60% of all Mars missions have ended in failure, with the UAE hoping that their USD 200 mn aircraft is successful, providing a tremendous boost to the Arab country’s space ambitions.

How to ditch “working-mothers guilt”: Many power moms feel guilty when work cuts into time with their children, however, many argue that the feeling is merely a social contrivance that is best left behind, writes Joann S. Lublin for The Wall Street Journal. Lublin is the author of “Power Moms: How Executive Mothers Navigate Work and Life” which will be out on 16 February. She talked to successful female executives who introduce ways to keep children involved and understanding of work needs, while also having some me-time.

Yesterday, we encouraged you to learn how to do something new — play the piano, pick up tennis, whatever. Enter the (still fairly svelte) Jonah Hill learning Brazilian jiu jitsu at age 35 (Instagram). It really never is to late to learn a new skill.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

Here’s a movie a week to keep you in a good mood: The Guardian is out with a (surprisingly meaty) listicle of 52 “perfect comfort films” to watch again and again. With The Devil Wears Prada, Ms. Doubtfire, Ratatouille, Die Hard, Madagascar and Trading Places on the list? They [redacted] nailed it.

La Liga for football fans tonight: Real Madrid will be playing against Getafe at 10pm CLT in the Spanish La Liga.

What to look out for on the beloved streaming sites: If you’re in the mood for a light, feel-good comedy, check out season one of Firefly Lane (trailer) that recently landed on Netflix featuring Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke. For Amazon Prime subscribers, check out Bliss (trailer), a flick starring Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek whose characters discover they’re living in a simulated reality. Egyptian streaming site Watch iT is out with an original TV series titled ‘Es3af Younis’ (trailer) starring Mohamed Anwar and Sara Salama.

????EAT THIS TONIGHT-

FOR CARNIVORES- How to get a “steakhouse style crust” on your steak with ingredients you can buy here in Cairo or Alex — and no fancy technique in sight. There’s no BBQ to set up, no heating the oven up so you can do a reverse sear, no sous vide followed by a blowtorch. Instead, the secret to a thick, restaurant-worthy crust is to *reverse* the usual order of operations found in staples such as this piece in the Wall Street Journal.

It doesn’t matter how dumb you are in the kitchen, this is a snap:

1. Let your steak (ribeye or sirloin) come to room temperature.
2. Liberally salt a heavy-bottomed frying pan with coarse salt (Maldon sea salt is available at Gourmet).
3. Preheat the salted pan with your gas burner on medium- to medium-high.
4. Hit each side of the steak with freshly ground coarse black pepper and some extra virgin olive oil — that’s right, fat on the steak, not in the pan.
5. Drop the steak into the hot pan. Let it cook for three minutes. Flip, Cook for three minutes (for the average thickness of a Gourmet steak). That should get you to about medium. A minute on each side will take you up to medium-well if you insist.

While the steak rests on the plate, deglaze your pan with a knob of butter and a liberal dash of Nomu Beef rub, then dump the butter and spices onto the steak. Done.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-

The AUC’s Arts Department is celebrating Black History Month with an exhibition at the Tahrir Cultural Center (Google Maps). The exhibition titled “Robert Colescott – The Cairo Years'' commemorates African-American modernist painter Robert Colescott who was AUC’s first visiting art professor and curated the university’s first exhibit at the first art gallery. The exhibit opens today and will run until 31 March.

Traditional Arabic-style music band El Khan are performing at Sakia Culture Wheel tonight at 7pm CLT (Google Maps). Never heard of them? Here’s a clip of them performing that managed to impress us (watch, runtime: 10:03).

Valentine’s Day at the Opera anybody? The Alexandria Opera House (Google Maps) will hold a Valentine’s Day celebration concert tomorrow, with a string orchestra set to play at 8pm CLT in the Sayed Darwish hall. Meanwhile, the Cairo Opera House (Google Maps) will commence a series of ‘day of love’ celebrations on Thursday and hold concerts at their main hall daily at 8pm CLT until 15 February.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

BOOK RECOMMENDATION by a Twitter person we don’t know, but think is cool: Patrick Skinner has had a crazy career as a CIA officer before he left counterterrorism behind to become a beat cop in his hometown. He’s become a staple of our Twitter feed with his chronicles of MeanCat, Drunk Uncle Orangey and the “Invading Agitator Orangeys” who have invaded his law-and-order (and dog-) loving home. One part meditation on the joy of pet ownership, one part cry for social justice reform, he’s a great Twitter follow. Follow him here, read this New Yorker profile (The Spy Who Came Home).

His book tip? Richard Evans’ The Coming of the Third Reich. The kicker, he says: No myth about Hitler’s rise to power is more unconvincing than the narrative of the “unpolitical German.”

The most borrowed books in the history of the New York Public Library include childhood favorites such as The Cat in The Hat by Dr. Seuss and Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak’s. A few classroom-assigned readings also made their way onto the list, predictably To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. But what’s the most checked out book in the entire 125-year history of the library? Check out the list in this New York Public Library press release or go a bit deeper with Reader’s Digest.

The House of Representatives’ Economic Committee finalized today its amendments to the Sovereign Sukuk Act, which sets the framework by which Egypt will issue sovereign sukuks, according to Al Mal. Most of the amendments appear to be largely cosmetic — including referring to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will manage sukuk issuances and sets terms with bond holders as the sukuks as the “Sovereign Sukuk Company.” Others lay out regulations for the mechanisms and processes of the issuance. These include:

Sukuk terms and issuance process: The amendments set a term limit of 30 years on all sovereign sukuks that will be issued. They also set up an oversight committee that will assess how the sukuks are priced and where the funding will go.

The Sovereign Sukuk Company: This will now be classified as a joint stock company with an issued capital of EGP 10 mn. While it’s authorized capital is EGP 100 mn, the Prime Minister is authorized to raise that amount as required.

One step closer to issuing sukuks: The government plans roll out the sharia-compliant bonds, both in EGP and foreign currency, as soon as the bill is ratified, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said last year, without specifying the size of the country’s inaugural sale. The act will now need to get a vote in the plenary session of the House before being sent to the President to sign the Act into law. The executive regulations for the bill are expected to be issued within three months after that.

And it will come not a moment too soon, as the bond markets have been good to us. As we noted this morning, Egypt sold USD 3.75 bn in USD-denominated eurobonds yesterday, with yields as low as 3.875% for the five-year bonds, 5.875% for 10-year bonds, and 7.5% for 40-year bonds. The USD 15 bn issuance was around 4x oversubscribed.

OTHER LEGISLATION NEWS- The House also approved amendments to the Traffic Act today that will impose new fees on private, and public-sector vehicles to help finance the new smart transport system, reports Masrawy. The fees will rise 6% per year from the first value and will be capped at a 200% increase. Fees worth noting include:

• For privately-owned cars, fees range from EGP 60 to EGP 1k based on engine size, with larger engine sizes and liter capacities requiring higher fees.
• Motorcycles are subject to a EGP 20 fee.
• Private, public, and tour buses will be subject to an EGP 200 fee, while school buses will pay a EGP 50 fee.
• Large trucks will pay a EGP 400 fee while trucks used to transport heavy equipment will be subject to a EGP 500 fee.

Mayar Sherif makes Egyptian tennis history for the second time this year: Egyptian tennis player Mayar Sherif has become the first Egyptian woman to win a main draw match at a Grand Slam after beating France’s Chloé Paquet in her first match at the Australian Open (AusOpen) in Melbourne this morning, AusOpen announced on Twitter.

In January, 24-year-old Sherif also made history when she became the first Egyptian to qualify for the AusOpen. Sherif ranks 131 in women’s singles and will go on to face either Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan (ranked 104) or the UK’s Johanna Konta (ranked 15) in the second round, reports Egyptian Streets. You can check out the full schedule here.

The EGX30 fell -0.65% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.37 bn (3.5% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 5.56% YTD.

In the green: Pioneers Holding (+2.0%), Eastern Company (+1.0%) and Telecom Egypt (+0.5%).

In the red: Alexandria Mineral Oils (-2.1%), Qalaa Holdings (-1.8%) and SODIC (-1.6%).

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OUR ANALYST OF THE WEEK- Noaman Khalid, associate director of macroeconomics, indices, and strategy at Arqaam Capital (Linkedin).

I’m Noaman Khalid and I’m an associate director at Arqaam Capital. I joined last September as I wanted to be exposed to an entity operating outside of Egypt with more clients and coverage. I’m specialized in the economics and commodities industries with a focus on Egypt and Kuwait.

Being a good analyst means having the ability to link events together. It’s not just about being a good economist and understanding macro events, but having the skill to relate it back to how it will impact financial markets. You also have to be able to tailor the macro picture towards the index or market you’re looking at.

The best part of my job is that it's full of action and you tend to see the results of your calls right away. It’s fast paced but the excitement makes you want to take more calls and you get better the more you learn.

The worst part is that you always have to be connected, even during vacations. We don’t have the luxury to take a few weeks off and disconnect from the news. If anything major happens when you’re off, you’ll have to open your laptop and get to work to ensure everyone is updated. Even when Egypt is on holiday, there’s always a market operating somewhere that could have an impact locally.

I don’t believe the roadshow will be dead post-covid, but we may be waiting until the end of this year or the start of 2022 before things normalize. Online meetings aren’t an equal replacement to face-to-face interactions even if they are a bit more efficient. It’s not human nature to only interact with a computer all day.

My theory of investing is to take a long-term call, but don’t become rigid. If you take a fundamental call on a country or a stock and give it time, the reward is much more lucrative than if you had jumped from one stock to another or from country to country. But you still need to be a bit flexible on your long calls, because an event could occur that would change the entire story.

I’m more of a words person than a numbers person. In my opinion numbers assist in formulating a view, but you need to explain things with words. When I talk to investors, I put my forecasts into story-form rather than figures and statistics. Something else I believe backs this up is that while numbers are available to everyone, every firm has its own outlooks and their qualitative analysis of what will happen on the ground is different.

2H2021 could be the turning point for Egypt. Arqaam’s outlook is that Egypt and the UAE will be the most attractive countries in MENA this year, fueled by the vaccine rollout and its global efficiency. Egypt could see a recovery of consumption to pre-2016 levels as purchasing power increases and people begin to see the pandemic pass. This call will have a potential impact on everything from the stock market and consumer stocks to Egypt’s GDP and growth.

The last great thing I watched was a movie called The White Tiger on Netflix. It shows another side of entrepreneurship that’s not a fairytale success story. It gives you a sense that some entrepreneurs or small businesses are born out of the need to escape from poverty and injustice.

The last great thing I read is a Financial Times article titled “Italian mafia bonds sold to global investors”. Seeing the mafia raising funds through official markets is both impressive and sad when taking into account all the ‘zillion regulations’ implemented in the EU on a financial level. It reconfirms that often creativity (even when bad intentioned) will continue to outpace regulators in some way or another.

When I’m not at work, I spend time with my niece, Jamila (aka Jamjam) who’s 3.5 years’ old. Jamila is my favorite human being on earth. We do a lot of activities together such as walking our dog Rusty, going to the club, and cooking.

My calendar has become crucial: My secret to staying organized was to always finish tasks right away. However, between my job and my master’s that’s not always feasible and now I’ve learned how to prioritize tasks and put clear deadlines for myself. When I was younger I used to look at people who were very organized and say “they’re so stiff” but now I realize that being unorganized really brings more stress to your days.

How Egyptian universities are creating “safe women’s units” to support victims of domestic abuse: Cairo University’s Kasr Al Ainy Teaching Hospital opened the first of these units that help victims recover from the physical and psychological effects of violence while also offering legal assistance if requested, reports Al Fanar Media. Women can undergo ultrasound and X-ray examinations to detect physical injuries and sit down with a female psychiatrist to talk about the issue. Cairo University’s safe women’s unit was established late last year as part of a joint initiative involving the United Nations Population Fund in Egypt (UNFPA) and Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW), UNFPA had announced. The initiative has also established specialized medical response clinics at Ain Shams, Mansoura, and Assiut public universities.

Around 5.6 mn Egyptian women suffer from domestic violence perpetrated by their husbands, or fiancés every year, according to a 2015 survey conducted by the UNFPA, the NCW and CAPMAS on the economic cost of gender-based violence. It was said then that around 1 mn women have left their marital homes due to experiencing domestic violence from their spouse at a yearly cost of EGP 585 mn as they try to find alternative housing. The total cost emerging from violence on women and their families was expected to reach EGP 6.15 bn if the injury rate was maintained.

Women can also seek help through shelters: Egypt developed a shelter for domestic abuse survivors and their children in 6th of October last year through a partnership between UN Women, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and Egypt’s Social Solidarity Ministry, reported UN Women. The initiative saw the enhancement of the ability of shelter staff to provide better-quality responses, including legal, psychosocial and economic empowerment services. The shelter was also upgraded with additional rooms offering women more privacy.

Between 2016 and 2018, the number of women and children hosted in shelters increased by 52%, said USAID pointing to the 6th of October shelter and three more it had helped upgrade in Alexandria, Mansoura, and Minya. The period also saw a 443% increase in the number of domestic violence victims benefiting from consultation services at the four shelters. The upgrades were part of USAID’s ongoing Safe Cities project that has recently added new goals such as collecting comprehensive data on the socio-economic impact of covid-19 on women and girls including increased violence.

February: France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, is set to visit Egypt.

6-8 February (Saturday- Monday) Students will be able to upload their educational certificates on the Higher Education Ministry’s electronic university admissions site.

6-20 February (Saturday-Saturday): Mid-year school break (public schools — enjoy the break from bumper-to-bumper traffic).

7-28 February (Sunday-Sunday): The Finance Ministry will receive applications from companies wishing to take part in the second phase of its program for the immediate payout of export subsidy arrears to exporters, minus a 15% fee.

8 February (Monday): Egypt leads an emergency Arab League minister-level meeting on the Israel-Palestine peace process.

8 February (Monday): AUC will hold a webinar titled ‘The Rise of Citizen Capitalism’ featuring Michael O'Leary, the managing director of Engine No. 1, and Warren Valdmanis, a partner at Two Sigma.

9 February (Tuesday): International Conference on Global Business, Economics, Finance and Social Sciences, Ramses Hilton, Cairo, Egypt.

10-11 February (Wednesday-Thursday): Egypt will host an arm of the World Conference on Science Engineering and Technology, Hotel Pavillon Winter, Luxor, Egypt.

12 February (Friday): Deadline to reach a settlement with the Tax Authority on overdue income, value-added, or real estate taxes without all the late fees. Late taxpayers are still eligible for a 50% exemption on interest fees and late penalties until 12 February under a bill passed last year, Tax Authority boss Reda Abdel Kader said.

12-15 February (Friday-Monday): Students will be able to apply for placement at private universities on the Higher Education Ministry’s electronic university admissions site

17 February (Wednesday): MENA x CEO MENA Entrepreneurship & VC Panel: Investor Perspectives from New York to North Africa will be hosted by the Columbia Entrepreneurs Organization.

20 February (Saturday): Final results of applications for private university places will be announced on the Higher Education Ministry’s electronic university admissions site

22-24 February (Monday-Wednesday): Second Arab Land Conference on land management, efficient land use, among other topics.

22 February- 5 March (Monday-Friday) Egypt will host the World Shooting Championship in 6 October’s Shooting Club, with 31 countries set to participate

26 February (Thursday): The Afro Future Summit will take place virtually.

28 February (Sunday) Deadline for businesses, sole traders, and those generating income from sources other than their day job to file wage tax returns through the electronic filing system.

March: Potential visit to Cairo by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

1-5 March (Monday-Friday): Aswan Forum for Peace and Development will take place virtually.

4-6 March (Thursday-Saturday): Cairo Fashion & Tex trade show, Cairo International Convention Centre, Cairo, Egypt

8 March (Monday): The IDC Future of Work Egypt conference will be held virtually featuring experts from Egypt and Jordan.

9-11 March (Tuesday-Thursday): EduGate 2021 – Enter The Future conference, Kempinski Royal Maxim Hotel, Cairo, Egypt.

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

1-3 April (Thursday-Saturday): HVAC-R Egypt Expo.

8-10 April (Thursday-Saturday): The TriFactory’s Endurance Festival at Somabay.

13 April (Monday): First day of Ramadan (TBC).

25 April (Sunday): Sinai Liberation Day.

29 April (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Sinai Liberation Day (TBC),

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

1 May (Saturday): Labor Day (national holiday).

2 May (Sunday): Easter Sunday.

3 May (Monday): Sham El Nessim.

13-15 May (Thursday-Saturday): Eid El Fitr (TBC).

25-28 May (Tuesday-Friday): The World Economic Forum annual meeting, Singapore.

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

7 June-9 June (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Petroleum Show, Egypt International Exhibition Center, New Cairo, Egypt.

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

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): 30 June Revolution Day.

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

30 June- 15 July: National Book Fair.

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.

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.

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.

1 October (Friday): Expo 2020 Dubai opens.

6 October (Wednesday): Armed Forces Day.

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

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.

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.

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.