PM — Hassan Abdalla takes the reins at the CBE

Good afternoon, lovely people, and a very happy THURSDAY. It’s been quite a week for us all, with an uncharacteristic flood of news over the past few days — and it’s not over yet.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

It’s official: Hassan Abdalla is taking over as acting governor of CBE: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has appointed Hassan Abdalla, the former CEO of Arab African International Bank and current chairman of state-owned media giant United Media Services Company, as acting governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), replacing Tarek Amer, according to Extra News. It is unclear how long Abdalla will hold the position for, but Egypt’s constitution allows the president to appoint a temporary caretaker to fill the position until the House of Representatives begins its next legislative session in the fall, at which time it would need to approve a nominee for a full term.

The decision comes as the CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee is set to meet later today to review interest rates for the first time since Amer stepped down as governor of the central bank yesterday. The emerging consensus is that the MPC will raise rates, although economists and analysts are divided on the increment, with some forecasting a raise as small as 50 bps and others seeing a potential 200 bps hike.

ABOUT ABDALLA- He joined Arab African International Bank (AAIB) in 1982 and became the multinational bank’s vice chairman and managing director in 2002 — a position he held until he left the bank in 2018, having positioned it as one of the nation’s top private-sector banks. He’s the founder and chairman of advisory and private equity firm Panther Associates, and has previously been a board member at the Central Bank of Egypt and EGX, the Institute of International Finance, the Communications Ministry’s ITIDA, and several private and public sector companies in Egypt.

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MEANWHILE- Alaraby Group plans to set up several factories in Africa within the next 10 years, Al Borsa quotes CEO Mohamed Elaraby as saying. The group owns two factories in South Africa and Sudan, and plans to begin operating at a new plant in Nigeria at the end of 2023, he said, adding that they are currently in the process of settling on two more African countries where they will set up additional factories. Elaraby did not specify the expected investment value of the new factories.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Much like here at home, the conversation in the international business press is being led by interest rates and monetary policy. Turkey’s central bank enacted today a 100 bps interest rate cut, saying that persistent inflation is a result of “geopolitical developments, effects of pricing formations that are not supported by economic fundamentals.” Although the Turkish bank said it expects to see inflation beginning to ease, the TRY fell against the USD again, Bloomberg reports. It was also interest day over in Ghana, where the central bank raised (pdf) interest rates by a massive 300 bps in a late meeting yesterday to tamp down soaring inflation and address the plunge of its currency. The Financial Times has the story.

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

• Tarek Amer has stepped down as governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), ending his almost-seven-year tenure at the bank more than a year early.
• valU just closed its second securitized bond issuance in less than a year: EFG Hermes’ consumer finance arm valU has issued EGP 532.6 mn of securitized bonds.
• Shareholders in cheesemaker Domty have until Wednesday, 14 September to sell their shares to Expedition Investments, as part of its mandatory tender offer (MTO) for 34% of the company

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???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The 32 EGX-listed companies that failed to meet the 2Q earnings deadline this week have until the end of the month to submit their financials to the bourse, a statement by the EGX read. Authorities have given companies another 15 days from the original deadline on 15 August, putting the new date at 30 August.

PSA- The Chicago Booth Executive Program in El Gouna returns in March 2023. The two-week program offers executives from Egyptian public and private sector the skills to help them “become a better leader for your organization and support Egypt’s growth in the years ahead.” Applications (information here) are open until 27 November, 2022. Newton Education Services, the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, and the University of Chicago Booth Executive Education are also hosting a virtual information session next Tuesday, 23 August at 6pm CLT to respond to applicants’ questions. You can register for the session here.

A delegation from the European Investment Bank delegation is visiting Egypt from 17-21 August to discuss the Nawafi program with the International Cooperation Ministry, according to a ministry statement. The two parties will discuss financing and investments in green projects, as part of an initiative that integrates the water, food and energy sectors.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- We’re looking at fairly hot weather in Cairo over the weekend with daytime highs of 39-41°C on Friday and Saturday, and nighttime lows of 25°C, our favorite weather app tells us.

British b’naire wants to buy Manchester United from its unpopular owners: Sir Jim Ratcliffe, one of the UK’s wealthiest people, has publicly expressed his desire to purchase Manchester Utd from the Glazer family, the Financial Times said. His interest comes after Bloomberg reported that the club’s American majority owners may be open to selling some of their shares. In 2003, the Glazer family began buying shares in Manchester Utd, and in 2005, they took control of the club. They went into debt to buy the Red Devils — a move that was not popular among fans. The already-tense situation is now even worse due to the club’s poor start to the season: After losing their first two games of the season, Manchester Utd is in last place — for the first time since 1992 — with 0 points in the English Premier League. Despite its recent on-field troubles, the club is still one of the most recognizable names in sports worldwide.

Who exactly is the club’s potential new suitor? The 69-year-old is the founder of petrochemical firm Ineos, and his holdings range from the French Ligue 1 football club Nice, to the Mercedes Formula One racing team. Earlier this year, he also spearheaded an unsuccessful bid to acquire Chelsea FC, after former Russian owner Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale. Ratcliffe's current wealth is estimated to be USD 13 bn, according to Forbes.

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WATCH THIS SPACE- Abu Dhabi is jumping on disruptive tech investments in emerging markets: AI firm G42, in partnership with Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ-backed Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, is setting up a USD 10 bn fund focused on investing in tech in emerging markets, according to Bloomberg. The G42 Expansion Fund will target late-stage companies with so-called “disruptive technology” in sectors ranging from healthcare to communications in high-growth regions. The AI and cloud computing company is part of a business empire overseen by UAE national security advisor Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed. G42 has made several key hires from Abu Dhabi sovereign funds for its investment team over the last year.

Diversifying the economy: The move comes as Abu Dhabi — which is among a short list of cities that manage over USD 1 tn in sovereign wealth capital — has been investing oil revenue in the technology sector in an effort to diversify its economy. Abu Dhabi wealth fund, Mubadala Investment Co., which owns a minority stake in G42, has also recently made tech investments.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
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Marvel’s first sitcom WandaVision takes refreshing risks. The show introduces us to superhero-ish couple Wanda Maximoff and Vision (played by Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, who bring a lot of life, wit, and feeling to the show). Set in a seemingly idyllic suburb with white picket fences, the show follows the telekinetic reality-warping Wanda, and her enhanced android husband as they try to live normal lives while keeping their superpowers hidden from their nosy neighbor Agnes (Katherine Hahn), who may or may not be more than she appears. Each episode is a tribute to/parody of classic sitcoms, and the producers nail every detail. The pilot is set in the 1950s era of I Love Lucy, while the second episode is set in the 1960s and is reminiscent of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. Then it’s the 1970s and beyond. The show is almost entirely devoid of Marvel’s characteristic action, and it defies genre categorization, making this Marvel’s biggest risk to date. The show is available to stream on Disney+ or you can watch the trailer (watch, runtime 1:20)

⚽ Lots of football this weekend, folks. Starting with the Egyptian Premier League: Future will face Ceramica Cleopatra at 9pm tonight, and two other games will kick off earlier at 6:30pm: El Masry v Ismaily and El Gouna FC v Ghazl El Mahalla FC.

Friday: Pharco faces El Zamalek at 6:30 pm, in a crucial game that could secure the league title for the white-clad team, if El Zamalek comes out on top and both Pyramids and Al Ahly lose their upcoming matches tomorrow and on Sunday. Meanwhile, Misr Lel Makassa will face Arab Contractors at 6:30 as well, followed by Pyramids playing against Smouha at 9pm.

Spanish La Liga’s second week kicks off with Espanyol v Rayo Vallecano at 8pm, then Sevilla v Valladolid at 10pm.

Saturday: One sole match in the Egyptian League: Alexandria’s Al Ittihad will face Al Ahly Bank at 6:30pm.

Game Week 3 of the English Premier League kicks off at 1:30pm with Tottenham facing Wolves, followed by four games at 4pm: Everton v Nottingham Forest, Fulham v Brentford, Leicester City v Southampton, and Crystal Palace v Aston Villa. Later, at 6:30 pm, you’ll find us glued to our screens watching Bournemouth play against Arsenal.

La Liga continues with three games, including Seta Vigo v Real Madrid at 10pm.

Four Italian Serie A matches kick off on Saturday, the most notable of which is Inter v Spezia at 9:45 pm.

????EAT THIS TONIGHT-

Baladi redefines chic oriental cuisine in New Cairo: Sometimes nothing can satisfy our cravings except hearty Egyptian dishes, and Baladi pairs some of our favorite feel-good meals with an elegant setting overlooking breathtaking views of the pool and the greenery at Dusit Thani LakeView Cairo. We’ll start on a light note and recommend their grilled-to-perfection chicken, and their flavorful lentil salad. Their hawawshi was quite yummy, and we were delighted to find out they also have vegan kofta. And we saved the best for last: Their feteer meshaltet is so good, it deserves a standing ovation.

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Get transported to a Nubian village at El Dammah Theatre tonight with NubaNour, who are keeping their cultural heritage alive by honoring the music that formed a crucial component of the Nubians’ customs and traditions. The live performance will begin at 9pm.

Catch a viewing of Chungking Express tomorrow night at 7 pm, as part of Zawya’s Wong Kar Wai Retrospective that will see four restored films directed by Wong Kar Wai screened throughout August. Each film will be screened twice.

Singer Ali El Haggar will take the stage tonight at the Cairo Opera House’s Citadel Music Festival at the Cairo Citadel, and Wust El Balad will be headlining the festival on Friday.

Grab your business card and head to Consoleya’s Co-Founders meetup this Saturday at 5 pm: The event is a great networking opportunity for entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in learning more about startups. Speakers at the event will include Maged Harby, general manager at EdVentures, Adham Molokhia, founder and CEO at Elmetr, and Amr Mustafa, cofounder and CEO at Haader App.

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 From Cairo podcast’s latest episode delves into the issue of stolen Egyptian artifacts — coinciding with the resurfacing of an unpublished letter backing up the long-held suspicion that British archaeologist Howard Carter stole artifacts from King Tutankhamun’s tomb, which he discovered. This serves as the most relevant example of how so much of Egypt’s ancient treasures were smuggled out of the country.

The history of looting Egyptian antiquities runs deep. The episode’s guest host, Egyptologist Monica Hanna, details the history of looting egyptian artifacts that began 200 years ago, largely encouraged by museums worldwide trying to one up each other’s collections and creating huge demand for looted artifacts. Hanna, one of the most active advocates for the preservation of ancient Egyptian artifacts in recent decades, recounts the different attempts made at recovering the smuggled artifacts throughout the years that were not all successful. You can listen to the episode on YouTube here (runtime: 1:27:41).

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EARNINGS WATCH-

Misr Fertilizers Production Co. (MOPCO)’s net income came in at EGP 1.65 bn in 2Q 2022, a 19% y-o-y increase, according to the company’s financial statements (pdf). The company’s revenues jumped 106% y-o-y to EGP 4.5 bn in 2Q 2022.

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MARKET ROUNDUP-

The EGX30 rose 0.4% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.28 bn (37.7% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is down 15.5% YTD.

In the green: Abu Qir Fertilizers (+4.4%), Ibnsina Pharma (+3.2%) and Mopco (+3.1%).

In the red: Orascom Construction (-6.2%), Alexandria Containers (-3.2%) and GB Auto (-1.2%).

Is our reliance on our smartphones helping us do more, or are we all really suffering from “digital amnesia”? The jury is out on the exact effects that using our smartphones for (pretty much all of) our daily tasks has on our brains, its ability to retain information, and keep track of everything we try to stash in our heads, the Guardian writes, citing neuroscientists and researchers. On the one hand, some argue that some smartphone functions that help us remember static data — such as phone numbers, appointments, etc — makes more “space” available in our brains to use for other cognitive functions. However, others argue that the slope is far more slippery, saying that the less we rely on our brains, the less sharp they become, and that outsourcing certain brain functions is actually altering the physical composition of what is arguably our most important organ.

“Downloading” our thoughts outside of our brains isn’t anything new. It’s just that it’s become a more digitized process over the years. Prior to the advent of the technology that brought us smartphones and computers, humans typically jotted down their thoughts and reminders — whether grocery shopping lists, doctor appointments, or reminders to call someone back — using pen and paper, notes neuroscientist Chris Bird. This process of “downloading” things from our brains to an “external drive” therefore isn’t new and actually could, he argues, help make more brain power and space available to allocate to other functions, such as concentration and creativity.

But there are also dangers to this approach: Other neuroscientists, such as McGill University professor Oliver Hardt, back the “use it or lose it” argument. “Once you stop using your memory it will get worse, which makes you use your device even more,” he tells the Guardian. A 2005 University of Waterloo study supports this hypothesis: Researchers found that an excessive reliance on our smartphones for convenient information retrieval is connected to “lazy thinking,” suggesting that there is actually a connection between “heavy smartphone use and lowered intelligence,” although there is no clear causal relationship established as of yet.

Some smartphone functions are undermining our brains more than others: While just using convenient functions on our phones to remember things like a recipe ingredient list or where we parked our car in the mall garage may not necessarily be a major detriment to our memory ability, evidence is beginning to emerge that an over-reliance can begin to alter the physical structure of our brains. This effect is more likely to result from relying on our phones to carry out more complex functions, such as geographical mapping (read: using Google Maps all the time). Although relying on GPS to guide you to a completely new destination isn’t the end of the world for your brain’s gray matter, it is far healthier to engage in spatial behavior in geographical mapping. For example, understanding a map to be able to compute directions and decipher where certain points are requires spatial cognition that requires the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays a critical role in our memory abilities.

What does this all mean? Aside from the day-to-day nuances of forgetting a task on your to-do list, neuroscientists are growing more concerned that our over-reliance on smartphones is actually going to give rise to more degenerative brain diseases. An ongoing study on adolescent brain cognitive development has indicated that young children with greater exposure to tech (such as smartphones and tablets) showed more cortical thinning — a process that is supposed to happen with age as part of the natural process of atrophy. Cortical thinning is connected to degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and dementia.