PM — Azza Fahmy x Balmain

Good afternoon, ladies and gents, and welcome to the start of a new week — and World Cup Final Day. We’re counting down the minutes until France and Argentina hit the field today, and we’re also looking forward to watching Wegz performing on the last day of the championship. The singer’s manager confirmed Wegz will be singing during halftime in a phone-in to El Hekaya’s Amr Adib (watch, runtime: 4:46).

THE BIG STORY TODAY

New task force to decide fair price of strategic commodities: The Supply Ministry is setting up a new committee that will be tasked with deciding on a compulsory fair price for rice, in addition to non-compulsory fair prices for up to 15 other strategy commodities, according to a ministry statement. These prices will factor in the cost of production and inputs, Minister Ali El Moselhy said.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

It’s a thoroughly mixed bag of nuts and bolts in the international business press this afternoon. Among the stories making the rounds: China is still buckling under a massive outbreak of covid-19 after rolling back pandemic restrictions (Financial Times | Reuters); and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is surrendering himself to extradition to the US (CNBC).

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

• The IMF has approved a USD 3 bn loan for Egypt, which is expected to unlock bns of USD of vital funding as the country struggles amid global headwinds.
• The Central Bank of Egypt is likely to raise interest rates when it meets on Thursday thanks to rising inflation, according to our interest rate poll.
• valU to spend USD 25 mn on regional + product expansion: EFG Hermes’ buy-now-pay-later platform valU expects to invest some USD 25 mn to complete its expansion to Saudi Arabia and roll out new products in early 2023.

*** 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: 2022 was a year of ups and downs for Egypt’s industrial players. We take a look at some of the big themes and trends that played out in the sector.

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EGX-listed Pachin will brief shareholders on acquisition offers it has received in its ordinary general assembly on Tuesday, 20 December. Dubai-based National Paints Holdings has offered to purchase 100% of the company for EGP 29 per share, valuing it almost EGP 700 mn and far outbidding earlier offers from Universal Building Materials and Chemicals (Sipes) and Saybad Industrial Investment that have since been withdrawn.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The mercury will rise to 25°C during the day tomorrow before falling to 13°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.

Balmain ft. Azza Fahmy: Egyptian jewelry designer Azza Fahmy is collaborating with Balmain to design a piece for the French household luxury brand’s 2023 resort collection, Azza Fahmy said in a post. The collection pays homage to Ancient Egypt, which Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing says holds beauty in its “maximalism and minimalism.” The bustier Azza Fahmy designed for Balmain’s collection includes several symbols that are emblematic of Ancient Egypt, including the Eye of Horus, a lotus flower, and a scarab, among others.

** We sat down with Azza Fahmy’s managing director, Fatma Ghali, on our podcast Making It back in December 2019. You can listen to the episode on our website | Apple Podcast | Google Podcast.

New Zealand is drafting a law for big digital platforms to pay publishers for the news circulated on these platforms, following in the footsteps of Australia, which successfully passed publishers’ right to commercial agreements, Wall Street Journal reports. So far, Australia has seen 30 commercial agreements signed “between digital platforms and a cross-section of Australian news businesses,” the WSJ says. Among them: News Corp reached agreements with Google and Facebook.

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Godzilla vs. Kong brings together two iconic titans of the big screen in a monsterverse. This sci-fi thriller, starring Alexander Skarsgård and Millie Bobby Brown, follows Kong’s journey as he tries to find his “true home,” and along the way collides with the ferocious Godzilla — pitting Kong to fight for his life and those with him. Meanwhile, a human scheme to wipe out all Earth’s inhabitants blows the monsters’ fight out of proportion as other quarrels erupt. The movie is available to watch on Netflix.

⚽ The 2022 World Cup is coming to an end tonight as Argentina and France compete for the champions title at 5pm.

Third and fourth places in the world: With Brazil and Belgium — which occupy the first and second place in the FIFA Men’s Ranking — falling out of the championship, Argentina (third in the ranking) and France (fourth) now have the chance to improve their rankings by winning the World Cup.

Will the winner keep the trophy? It’s common for the World Cup champions to retain the cup forever, which is what happened with Brazil when it won the 1970 World Cup for the third time following their 1958 and 1962 victories. Argentina also won the World Cup in 1978 and 1986, and this time around can be marked as their third. However, recently FIFA has cut off this tradition — which explains why Germany never retained the cup after winning for the third time in 2014.

AND THAT’S A WRAP on our 2022 World Cup coverage. We’ll be here to bring you the same football fix when the 2026 World Cup rolls around in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

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Jay’s Jamaican Jerk is a delicious way to make your tummy happy without going overboard. Jay’s recently opened in Egypt, introducing the most famous dish from Jamaica, fully-marinated chicken with the most flavorful spices and grilled to crisp perfection. The chicken is served with seasoned rice, and fresh salad, making a perfectly delicious meal for dinner. It’s available for delivery in Maadi, ideal for a dine-in or a casual dinner party with friends.

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The long wait is finally over: Avatar: The Way of Water is out in cinemas. This time around, it brings about a new storyline that captures life beyond the forest of Pandora. They shed light on the different tribes, who possess different abilities of survival. In the movie, the earth people come back to hunt down Jake Sully, who previously killed their leader, colonel Miles Quaritch. Now that Sully is a father and has a family and a nation to protect, he decides to step down from his role as Toruk Makto — sparing his tribe the agony of loss and death. He flees the forest and seeks asylum from the people of the water — learning new skills in order to stand against the enemy once and for all.

Don’t miss out on jazz night tonight with Cairo Big Band Society playing at Cairo Jazz Club in Agouza at 8pm.

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A partial tribute to Fleetwood Mac: Daisy Jones and The Six, written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, is a fiction-documentary written in an interview format, capturing the day-to-day hurdles of trying to make it as a rock band in the 1970s. The book follows the main character, Daisy, a teenager exploring life as an adult. She’s living life to the fullest and thriving, as her voice gets discovered by people who have the power to make her famous — then fast-forwards to the mysterious reasons behind the breakup of the band. This read takes you on a ride to the age of rock n’ roll, setting the stage for topics like substance abuse, women empowerment and freedom of self expression.

The EGX30 fell 2.0% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.98 bn (31.8% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is up 24.2% YTD.

In the green: Telecom Egypt (+2.3%), Juhayna (+2.1%) and AMOC (+1.2%).

In the red: Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling (-5.8%), Palm Hills Development (-4.4%) and Fawry (-3.7%).