PM — Would you delete your least favorite memories?

Happy almost-THURSDAY, wonderful people. We couldn’t be happier that the weekend is within arm’s reach as we sprint through this busy Wednesday afternoon.

One data point to take note of before we get into the swing of things: The EGX boasted EGP 2.3 bn in turnover today, a whopping 60.3% above the trailing 90-day average. The benchmark EGX30 closed up 2.7%, with today’s market rally led primarily by real estate stocks. Heliopolis Housing and Development, TMG Holding, and Madinet Nasr for Housing and Development closed the day comfortably in the green.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY

#1- ‘Tis the season for local wheat farming incentives + regulation: Egypt has hiked local wheat procurement prices to range EGP 865-885 per ardeb to encourage farmers to sell more of their crop to the government amid global supply shortages, a statement by the Cabinet read. The new price tag is lower than the EGP 1k per ardeb farmers had demanded, citing surging inflation.

The higher procurement price comes as the government is moving to regulate the market, with Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy issuing a decision requiring farmers to sell a minimum of 12 ardebs of wheat per feddan, and barring them from selling to others without a license. Farmers who sell at least 90% of their crop yield to their government will receive subsidized fertilizers for the summer harvest season, according to the new regs.

#2- Egypt and Israel will operate direct flights between Tel Aviv and Sharm El Sheikh for the first time starting next month, under an agreement between President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports, citing Bennett. EgyptAir first opened a flight route to Tel Aviv in October following what was Bennett’s first visit to Egypt, and the first for any Israeli PM in over a decade.

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

• FinMin sees budget deficit widening amid commodities price shock: The Madbouly government sees the FY 2021-2022 budget deficit target widening to 6.9% from 6.7%, Vice Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk said, as war-related global price surges are putting a strain on the state budget.
• The Russia-Ukraine war will curb our economic growth and hit the budget –IMF: Emerging markets including Egypt will need to hedge against the economic risks associated with the war in Ukraine, IMF Director for ME and Central Asia Jihad Azour said.
• How the commodity price shock is pushing up the price of building materials in Egypt: Local steel and cement prices have soared since the start of the Ukraine conflict, with local manufacturers saying that these increases are necessary as they face soaring input costs, while contractors are lobbying for government support to help them absorb the shock

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HAPPENING LATER TODAY- The US Federal Reserve will kick off the second day of its two-day open market committee meeting at 8pm CLT, followed by a press conference at 10:15pm CLT to announce the outcomes of the meeting. The Fed is widely expected to kick off its monetary tightening cycle today, starting with a 25 bps rate hike. The market previously anticipated the central bank to go bigger and raise interest rates by 50 bps, but now expects the uncertainties triggered by the conflict in Ukraine to have changed its calculations.

The Fed’s decision will be important to keep an eye on here at home, as the Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee is set to meet next Thursday, 24 March for its second interest rate meeting of the year.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD

We’re inching closer to a peace agreement as Moscow and Kyiv begin to find common ground: Russia and Ukraine are approaching a consensus on certain parts of the proposed peace agreement that would end weeks of fighting, Reuters reports. “Neutral status is now being seriously discussed along, of course, with security [assurances],” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. The two sides are “very close to agreement” on the “specific formulations” of this arrangement, Lavrov said.

The setup would see Ukraine mimic Austria, adopting a neutral status while maintaining “its own limited army,” which Russia is considering a compromise on its part, Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying.

In the meantime, Ukraine is striking back against Russia’s offensive, with its armed forces carrying out counteroffensive attacks in several operational areas, which “radically changes the parties’ dispositions,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in a tweet.

Around 20k Ukrainian civilians have escaped Mariupol in private cars, as Russian forces focus their efforts and resources on the city on the Azov Sea coast, which they need to control before continuing to move further west, Reuters reports. At least 200k citizens are still trapped in the city, many of whom are without basic necessities, heating, power, or water.

More US assistance coming Ukraine’s way: US President Joe Biden is set to announce an additional USD 800 mn in military aid to Ukraine today, the Washington Post reports, citing a senior White House official. The aid is part of a government spending bill Biden signed that would provide USD 13.6 bn in new assistance to Ukraine.

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???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Swvl is on course to hit the Nasdaq around the end of the month: Egyptian mass transportation firm Swvl will go public on the Nasdaq “on or around the 31 March” should the shareholders of its SPAC, Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, approve the listing in a meeting on 30 March, the company said in a statement (pdf) confirming that the merger has received the greenlight from US regulators. The company will list 35% of its shares on the tech-heavy exchange following a merger with Queen’s Gambit, and will trade under the ticker SWVL.

A call for agribusiness SMEs: CARE Egypt is calling on SME owners to apply for a training program aiming to equip agripreneurs to raise funds. You can apply for the program here.

Green energy forum: The German Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce is hosting the Egyptian-German Green Energy Forum next Tuesday, 22 March. The event runs 5:30-9pm CLT at the InterContinental Cairo Semiramis.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The mercury will reach 20°C during the day tomorrow before falling to 9°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.

Setting guidelines and regulations are proving effective in achieving gender equality in the corporate world: The European telecom sector is the only sector in the international business world in which women occupy over 40% of boardroom seats, Bloomberg reported. The milestone comes in line with the FTSE Women Leaders Review’s target, after having called on companies in the index to have women take up no less than 40% of boardroom seats. The success indicates that imposing mandatory regulations such as gender representation quotas are effective in closing the gender gap in the business world. “There were people who thought that 33% was good enough and that we’ve sorted a deficit,” said the review’s chief executive. The index has its eye on higher goals, with its next step targeting between 40-60% women representation in company boards to give them more flexibility.

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NFTs are landing on Instagram soon: Users will be able to display their NFTs on Instagram “in the near term,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed to Bloomberg. Meta is currently setting up the tech infrastructure that would enable users to display NFTs on the platform, Zuckerberg said, declining to provide further details on when and how the feature would roll out. Not sure what NFTs are? Hit up our explainer on NFTs.

If you’re among the handful of people who still wear a mask everywhere, rejoice: You won’t have to pull down your mask every time you need to unlock your iPhone, as Applerolled out iOS 15.4 and iPad iOS 15.4 with a handful of features to save you the hassle, most notably unlocking your phone while wearing a mask. The feature was previously only available for Apple Watch wearers, who could unlock their iPhone while wearing a mask as long as their Watch was within reach. You can also now control multiple Apple devices simultaneously through the Universal Control feature. Also: Siri is getting a new voice and we’ll have more emojis coming our way.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

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Drama-filled sports docuseries Drive To Survive returns to Netflix with a fourth season: While this season had the potential of being the best of them all, with so much happening on the Formula 1 race tracks this past year, the stories the directors chose to tell don’t do the sport justice, argues The Hindu Times. The new season follows the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship season, condensing 22 races into 10 episodes full of drama, crashes, and racing victories. While the latest season hasn’t gotten raving reviews, it’s still worth a watch and the rest of the docuseries has had fans hooked from all over the globe and brought Formula 1 racing back into the limelight. The Netflix show has access to the behind-the-scenes of it all, following some of the biggest personalities in the gig, from Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen to Valterri Bottas.

⚽ It’s a somewhat more eventful day for football today, with games in the UEFA Champions League, English Premier League and the Egyptian Premier League.

We’ll have the full list of UEFA quarter-finalists today, with two seats set to be snagged by the victors from two matches at 10pm: Juventus v Villarreal with an aggregate at 1-1, and Chelsea v Lille with an aggregate of 2-0 for the Blues. Atlético, Bayern, Benfica, Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid already secured their quarter-final spots.

Moving to the English Premier League, Arsenal will clash with Liverpool tonight at 9:45pm, with the Reds hoping for a victory to narrow the point gap to a seasonal low of one point with rival Manchester City, which was restricted to a scoreless draw against Crystal Palace. Revived Arsenal, which is now among the top-four, aims to continue its undefeated momentum and close the gap more against Chelsea, which ranks third. Another game we’re not missing: Brighton will play against Tottenham at 9:30pm.

In Egypt, Al Ittihad will play against Ismaily at 5:30pm, while Enppi will clash with Ceramica Cleopatra at 8pm. El Gouna is currently playing against Al Mokawloon as we dispatch.

???? IN NON-FOOTBALL NEWS- Grand Slams could soon see a new tiebreak format: Tiebreaks at all future Grand Slam Championships — including the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon, and US Open — will move to a 10-point tiebreak format as of May, according to a statement. The championships have up until now used a patchwork of different tiebreak rules, but are now moving to create more consistency. According to the new rules, if the two sides tie with six points each in the final set, the first player to reach 10 points with a two-point difference will come out on top. The new system will be imposed on a trial basis for “a full Grand Slam year” and reviewed “before applying for any permanent rule change,” the statement said.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-

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Cairo Jazz Club is celebrating Women’s Day with three “Femmes Fatales”: Nouran Abu Taleb, Youssra El Hawary and Dina El Wedidi, tonight at 9pm.

Zar performers Mazaher Ensemble are taking the stage at Downtown’s Makan tonight at 8pm. The ensemble includes Um Sameh, Um Hassan and Nour el Sabah who are among the Zar tradition’s last remaining practitioners in the country.

Acapella Bel Arabi are taking the stage tonight at El Sawy Culturewheel at 7:30pm.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

If you had the option of deleting your worst memories, would you take it? Tell Me An Ending by Jo Harkin is a Black Mirror-esque sci-fi novel that revolves around a tech company that can delete unwanted memories for customers. Years later, the memory removal clinic offers a new service, reaching out to former clients and telling them that they can now reinstate their memories if they’d like. The book then branches out into the stories of four people who grapple with the decision to get their memories back and what it could mean for their life. At the same time, psychologist Noor is tasked with bringing these memories back, but as she understands more about what the program entails and its impact on people, she begins to doubt the ethics of memory removal. Harkin’s book is an exploration of secrets, identity, and how life can change by forgetting a single moment.

EARNINGS WATCH-

Orascom Financial Holding’s (OFH) incurred a net loss of EGP 102.1 mn in the 13-month period since its establishment, the period between December 2020 and December 2021, according to OFH’s financial statement (pdf). The company recorded operational revenues of EGP 362.4 mn and total revenues of EGP 522.1 mn during the period. OFH is the spinoff of Orascom’s non-bank financial services holdings.

MARKET ROUNDUP-

The EGX30 rose 2.7% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 2.3 bn (60.3% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is down 10.4% YTD.

In the green: Heliopolis Housing (+9.2%), TMG Holding (+8.0%) and Madinet Nasr Housing (+7.5%).

In the red: Ibnsina Pharma (-1.0%), GB Auto (-1.0%) and Orascom Construction (-0.1%).

Insects are quickly going extinct — and their absence could leave us with some serious problems: Despite their sight being the cause of revulsion among most people, insects play one of the most vital roles in ensuring our ecosystems are functioning soundly, as well as in food production around the world. The problem is that many of these crucial organisms are now coming under increasing threat of extinction due to human activity. Researchers have been sounding the alarm on this looming threat for years, with some estimates suggesting that nearly 40% of all insect populations are currently in decline and at risk of being completely wiped out over the coming decades, according to one research paper. Although this may sound like a dream come true for entomophobes, the consequence of a world without insects would be catastrophic.

Insect populations are on the decline: Though insect populations have proven resilient to previous mass extinction events, researchers are finding that they may be way more vulnerable than we previously thought. Some of the species in question from the 2019 study on global insect populations include moths, butterflies, bees, dung beetles among many others that help decompose organic matter. “In 10 years you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years you will have none,” one of the researchers behind the study told the Guardian.

And it's been a long time in the making: Backing up this claim of rapidly falling populations is a 2017 study that had suggested the abundance of insects had dropped by more than 75% within 63 protected areas in Germany over the course of 27 years. A separate 2016 study had also detailed similar declines in Puerto Rican rainforests.

Wide-ranging losses of this sort will most definitely will bite us in the [redacted]:

Insects are pollinators, decomposers, predators and prey that are a fundamental building block of our ecosystems. But even if we were to think a little selfishly for a moment, they’re the backbone of our agricultural systems. Nearly three quarters of all flowering plants on the planet require insect pollination and so do the crops that produce over one third of the world’s food supply. In short, insect extinction is a global food security issue.

So what’s responsible for all this? Habitat loss, pesticides used in farming, climate change, and the weather extremes climate change causes are all to blame. By far the biggest causes identified, however, are the aggressive use of pesticides in farming — neonicotinoids and fipronil in particular — and the loss of natural habitats to human encroachment.

In Egypt, we’ve been witnessing this trend firsthand through declining honey bee populations: Between 1990 and 2016 Egypt lost about half of its honey bee colonies, according to one study (pdf) that also cited habitat loss, pesticide use and global warming to be the main drivers of this decline. In 2016, at the time when the study was being conducted, the country had already witnessed a 40% shortfall in honey production compared to 1987 levels. The report also estimated that the complete loss of pollinators like bees in 2003 would have cost EGP 13.5 bn, or some 3.3% of total GDP that year.

Avoiding total population collapse will require a rethink of our current agricultural practices: Protecting plant biodiversity, reducing pesticide use and developing new breeding programs for pollinators are among some of the necessary steps outlined in the study on honey bee populations in Egypt. Globally, the sentiment is much the same: Seriously reducing our pesticide use in favor of more ecologically sound alternatives is “urgently needed to slow or reverse current trends, allow the recovery of declining insect populations and safeguard the vital ecosystem services they provide,” the authors of the 2019 landmark report wrote.