PM — Sit back and do nothing

Happy Monday, wonderful people. The slow late-August stretch we thought we were up against has made an about-face, giving us a big news day here at home.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY

#1- Maait sets more ambitious target for budget deficit: Egypt’s budget deficit is expected to narrow to 5.6% in FY 2022-2023, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait told reporters today, according to Bloomberg Asharq. This figure is a more ambitious target than the 6.1% deficit that was originally penciled into the state budget for the current fiscal year. The government has also revised upwards its primary surplus target by 0.1 percentage points to 1.6%.

#2- A handful of Chinese companies are currently in talks to build a USD 2.3 bn industrial complex to manufacture components for solar power plants, Bloomberg Asharq reported, citing four unnamed governmental sources it says have knowledge of the matter. The talks come as the government is pushing to localize industry, the sources say.

^^We’ll have more details on these stories and others in tomorrow’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

It’s another hodge-podge day in the international business press: Denmark, Finland and Sweden have all warned Norway that its proposed electricity export cuts undermine the European market, the Financial Times writes. The “very dangerous step and nationalistic” step, according to head of Finland’s network operator, comes as Europe’s energy crises continues to get worse with gas prices reaching a record EUR 343 per MWh over the weekend. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal and CNBC are closely watching US markets as concerns mount that the US Federal Reserve will further tighten monetary policy.

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

• We just launched Enterprise Climate: Our first issue of Enterprise Climate — the essential Middle East and North Africa publication for senior execs who work in or care about what we think is fast becoming the world’s largest and most significant industry — went live this morning.
• Bloomberg beats the drum (hard) on the need for devaluation: Portfolio investors are “jittery” about Egypt’s external position coming under pressure.
• Egypt-headquartered SaaS startup Zeew secured USD 630k in a seed round led by Plug and Play Ventures, Poland Prize and a number of angel investors.

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The Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWEIF) is taking place in Cairo for the first time on 26-27 September, according to a press release (pdf). The hybrid event will bring together more than 60 African and global policy and business experts to discuss how gender integration can boost SME growth.

Egypt’s National Organization for Social Ins. (NOSI) will participate in the Arab Pensions and Social Insurance Conference on 28-29 September in Sharm El Sheikh, a statement by NOSI read. The conference will bring together social ins. organizations and public and private pension providers to discuss widening coverage through region-wide pension reform.

PSA #1- Your deadline to catch a 65% break off late payment fines for your taxes is coming up this Wednesday, 31 August. The waiver applies to late payment fees for customs tariffs, income, real estate, and sales taxes, VAT, and stamp duties among others. The remaining 35% of your due payments will need to be paid before next March.

PSA #2- Exporters have until 15 September to apply to join the fifth phase of FinMin’s export subsidy program, according to a statement. Cabinet has given its approval to pay a total EGP 10 bn out to exporters, with payments to be made on 1 October and 1 December. The program allows exporters to receive overdue subsidies in a single payment rather than in installments over four to five years, in return for a haircut.

Ration card holders now have until 30 September to register their mobile numbers to their cards, in a move meant to make it easier for the Supply Ministry to contact them, the ministry said in a statement yesterday.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect a daytime high of 40°C tomorrow and a nighttime low of 25°C, according to our favorite weather app.

Zuckerberg dodges questioning on Cambridge Analytica scandal with last-minute settlement: Facebook parent company Meta has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the social networking platform of sharing users’ private data with third parties, including now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing a court filing. The undisclosed settlement comes weeks before Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former COO Sheryl Sandberg were due to face questioning from lawyers over the case. Facebook users brought the suit following revelations that Cambridge Analytica had used the platform’s data to target voters in its work for Donald Trump’s successful 2016 US presidential campaign.

One strategy investors can consider when wobbly times strike the stock market: Do nothing. Ignoring shifts in the markets was economics and finance author Jeff Sommer's advice for long-term investors even when stocks were cratering earlier this year, he writes in the New York Times. The S&P 500 index bounced back with a rise of 17% mid-June to mid-August, but a bear market has returned in the last couple of weeks. Sommer says as long as investors have a solid plan using low-cost index funds, they're safe to do absolutely nothing. When the market dropped, it paid off not to sell in panic because of the sizable gains that arrived this summer. With Sommer's buy and hold method, investors don’t need to concern themselves about selling and buying at the right time — they’re just putting their money on an economy growing in the long run and the stock market capturing some of that growth.

The key to fighting misinformation? Allow us to introduce you to pre-bunking. “Inoculating” people against misinformation in the news through a series of videos teaching them about the common forms of information manipulation can be highly effective in helping consumers distinguish real from fake news, according to a paper published by Science Advances. This method, dubbed pre-bunking, helps people point out false information using fictional examples and could run as public service ads prior to viewing harmful content to help users identify false information. Those who watched the videos were proven to be better at pointing out false information from accurate information. The videos don’t work to prove certain claims false, instead they work to help people acquire the techniques needed to spot false information.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
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Netflix’s History 101 offers bite-sized mini history lessons on topics ranging from fast food to credit cards and the space race. The show uses archival footage, narration, and infographics to present a summary of each episode’s topic. Season 1 debuted in 2020 and season 2 was recently released after a two-year hiatus, with its ten episodes tackling timely topics including whether dating apps are leading us to find love or making us miss out on making real connections, the USD 1 bn home fitness industry ,and the implications of new evidence that suggests that psychedelic drugs could help treat brain injuries and psychological problems. While the short episodes, that clock in at just over 20 minutes, are too short to dive deep into the nuances of the more complex subjects the show covers, they give concise digestible overviews that are easily bingable.

⚽ The last round of the Egyptian League starts today: Future faces Misr Lel Makassa at 7pm. Misr Lel Makassa is currently at the bottom of the league in last place, while Future occupies fourth place behind Al Ahly.

La Liga: Cádiz take on Athletic Bilbao at 8pm, and Valencia face Atlético Madrid later at 10pm .

???? OUT AND ABOUT-
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The Circus: Then and Now, a two night circus event, kicks off tonight at AUC’s Tahrir Cultural Center with a screening of Fellini’s Academy Awardwinning La Strada at 8pm at Ewart Hall.

Catch a screening of Before Sunset, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Before Sunrise that picks up nine years after the first movie ended, while you chow down on some popcorn at Room Garden City at 9pm.

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Authentic Egyptian Cooking: From the Table of Abou El Sid gives home cooks a peek into the kitchen of one of Cairo’s staple restaurants for traditional food. The cookbook presents 57 authentic Egyptian recipes and some Middle Eastern favorites from starters to main courses to desserts. If you’ve been struggling to find a recipe for a traditional fettah to make for eid this is the book for you. Author Nehal Leheta is an interior designer with a strong fascination with cuisine. She would watch the chef at Abou El Sid cook for three hours a day and take notes on ingredients and preparation methods to have on hand when compiling the recipes. The cookbook boasts beautiful, mouth-watering, full-page colored photos and commentary for each recipe, meaning that this handy guide to the complicated world of Egyptian cooking doubles as a coffee-table book to skim through.

The EGX30 fell 0.6% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.58 bn (45.4% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is down 15.3% YTD.

In the green: Qalaa Holdings (-3.6%), Alexandria Containers (+3.3%) and Palm Hills Development (+2.1%).

In the red: Madinet Nasr Housing (-7.0%), Elsewedy Electric (-3.0%) and Ibnsina Pharma (-2.4%).

Covid-19 transformed the way we interact with public spaces and buildings, but is the evolution in design of everyday spaces here to stay in a post-covid world? The growing need for people to move around safely during the pandemic increased the appreciation for open space, better indoor ventilation, natural light, and accessibility to nature.

The core of urban space design centers around the surrounding climate and ecosystem, building on an understanding of how structures and spaces can promote better physical and mental health. Moving corridors outside, increasing windows for light and cross ventilation, and retrofitting walls with greenery can improve health conditions.

Biophilic design, the practice of incorporating plants to purify the air, can lead to decreased stress, boost creativity, and help with recovery from illness. For those working at home, optimizing indoor air quality with natural ventilation and sunlight became crucial with new residential designs including strategies for better ventilation and filtration.

Utilizing any outdoor space in an office building became crucial during pandemic years to offer the chance to work outdoors. Adding roof decks and outdoor terraces gave employees valuable access to the outside world and connection to nature, and architects are now keen to employ these design features in new buildings because of the continued focus on health and wellness.

The growing need to promote team collaboration inside and outside the office put an emphasis on adaptable design solutions. Open spaces with walls that pivot and move for both private and focused work were needed for group work and Zoom meetings. Rotational shifts between on-site office work and remote work have led to a rise in hot desking, the practice of unassigned work stations, and increased the prevalence of outfitting offices with tech solutions for sharing and casting work on screens.

Speaking of screens, smart technology took a necessary and long overdue leap during covid, with a rising need for contactless food and beverage ordering in restaurants and hotels. Digital menus accessible by QR code opens up the ability for venues to change selections quickly and more efficiently without the need to print and waste resources.

Remember the days where a crowded restaurant was considered a sign of excellence and popularity? The pandemic brought ventilation and space to the forefront of people’s minds, with a massive shift towards outdoor dining and creating inviting spaces with attractive landscaping. Not all establishments have the luxury of a terrace or patio to accommodate this, so restaurant design can take inspiration from Europe, with venues extending their storefronts to embed themselves into the urban fabric of the neighborhood.

This shift to outdoor dining led new restaurants to consider modular construction, the process of using factory-made modules brought to construction sites for assembly, more heavily as an option. This approach allows venues to quickly and cheaply open new locations without the indoor dining aspect, and a byproduct is the reduced cost for workers to pull off the project.

Are these changes here to stay? It’s hard to see changes in design and architecture regressing if these considerations lead to more sustainable infrastructure and happier people. Some architects are optimistic the pandemic opened up a dialogue on how architectural design can — and should — transform to support a healthier world.