Dollar-denominated t-bills out tomorrow • Faragallah to build 5 new plants • did Abraaj buy Cleopatra Hospital? • inflation rises sharply • El-Sisi reviews Sharm economic conference progress • Orascom to restart ‘paused’ hotel projects • Rafah to be razed

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

The CBE will issue USD 950 mn in one-year dollar-denominated treasury bills on Mondayfollowing cabinet’s approval of borrowing USD 1.5 bn in foreign currency, according to Al Mal. Proceeds will presumably be used to finance a USD 700 mn debt payment to the Paris Club.

Paving the way for a resolution on the Al-Jazeera English case? President Abdelfattah El-Sisi joined top jurists from the Court of Cassation and the Supreme Judicial Council yesterday for Judiciary Day ceremonies at the High Court of Justice, per a statement from Ittihadiya. El-Sisi lauded the judiciary as a bastion of independence and praised in particular the work of its legislative review body. His appearance at the all-judges conference, the first for a president, we believe, raises the question of whether the presidency working to get judges on side in advance of a resolution on the Al-Jazeera English case.

Major European leaders are set to attend a rally in France today to condemn the recent spate of terror attacks and to call for national unity. Among those dropping in: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister David Cameron of the UK and Matteo Renzi of Italy. King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan will also attend. However, the unity rally has not welcomed France’s far-right National Front party, which some critics fear will exploit the attack for political gain at the expense of immigrants. (Read)

Egypt’s Journalist Syndicate will hold a rally in front of the syndicate’s headquarters today in support of the slain cartoonists (Read).

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING THIS WEEK

A large British trade delegation arrives in Egypt on Tuesday, the same that that the Egyptian-Kenyan Business Forum will be held in Nairobi under the auspices of the Egypt and Kenyan foreign ministries and with sponsorship from by Qalaa Holdings. (Read)

The Central Bank of Egypt’s first Monetary Policy Committee meeting of 2015 takes place on Thursday.

In what is being described as “a last chance,” the UN will attempt to host new Libya peace talks in Geneva next week, although no exact date has been set. (Read)

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

The focus of last night’s talk shows was terrorism. Just one hour before the nightly lineup began, a suicide bomber attacked a coffee shop in Tripoli, Lebanon, killing 9 and wounding 35. Lamees El Hadidy opened her program with coverage of the scene in Tripoli. El Hadidy expressed her dismay at what she deems to be an unfair approach taken by the western media towards these acts of terror.

“Its never real to them until it happens close to home. Unfortunately, it had to happen on their soil before they could understand what we in Egypt and the region have to experience on a daily basis,” said El Hadidy. “I wonder if this will get the kind of media coverage that Paris got.”

She mentioned a Washington Times opinion piece under the headline “Will Egypt show America How to in the War on Radical Islamic Jihadism,” which appeared the day after the attack on Charlie Hebdo.

Elevating the Washington Times to a status it doesn’t particularly deserve, El Hadidy said: “The foreign press have finally woken up and acknowledged that the war we are fighting is a real one. I think its now very clear that we have to fight this in every home, every school and every mosque.

“The protest in Paris tomorrow will be no different from the protest that President Sisi called for and millions of Egyptians participated in on 26 July 2013. The west ridiculed us for giving our support to a military coup. When we have a protest against terrorism, they call us ignorant because we are supporting a military coup.”

El Hadidy, does however, like French police uniforms. “They are very well equipped and very well protected with those uniforms. I wish we could have uniforms like these for our police force.”

Amr Adeeb expressed his outrage over the acts of terror that have transpired over the past few days with one of his louder diatribes. His points were well taken, but need not have consumed the duration of the two-hour program. Below is a synopsis;

“Believe it or not, there are lots of people out there who are not really disturbed by what happened in Paris, taking the attitude that Charlie Hebdo journalists got what they deserved because they were insulting the Prophet. I’d like to ask those people what they think about the nine people who just died in Lebanon. Who were they insulting? These were Muslims killing Muslims. How do you think that makes us look?

“There are also those among us who are disgusted by what happened in Paris, but they say, ‘The people who carried out these attacks are not Muslims.’ I completely disagree. They are Muslims. Whether you like it or not, this is what we have become. I am not denouncing Islam but I am denouncing Muslims. I know that I will not be very popular for saying this, but we have to face the facts.

“At the head of tomorrow’s protest in Paris will be Netanyahu. Is there anyone from Azhar attending tomorrow’s protest? I don’t think so. Although Al Azhar denounced the attack in the same statement, they also expressed their contempt for the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. Its like saying we are sorry people died, but they brought it upon themselves.

“We will continue to see more of this kind of terrorism in 2015 because our religious institutions remain unconvinced that we have a real problem. As long as they continue to live in darkness, people will die. This is a real catastrophe.”

After giving us his own two cents about the events that unfolded in Paris over the weekend, Osama Kamal interviewed Minister of Investment Ashraf Salman, who spoke about preparations for the Sharm El Sheikh Investment Summit.

“We have set up a special joint unit between the Ministry of Investment and the Ministry of International Cooperation that is coordinating with the 14 Egyptian investment banks to help prepare the projects for the Sharm El-Sheikh Summit. The investment banks will be presenting the projects, while the government will be presenting its economic program and strategies for the various sectors,” said Salman.

SPEED ROUND

We have election dates: The Parliamentary elections will kick off on 21 March 2015, with two three-day polls about a month apart and two runoff periods. It breaks down like this:

• 21-22 March: Egyptians living abroad whose national ID shows their home address as being in Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiyut, Wadi El-Gedid, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, the Red Sea, Alexandria, Beheira and Matrouh
• 22-23 March: Voters resident in Egypt and living in one of those governorates.
• 25-26 April: Egyptians living abroad whose national ID shows their home address as being in Cairo, Qalyubiya, Daqahlia, Munufiya, Gharbiya, Kafr El-Sheikh, Sharqiya, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez and North and South Sinai
• 26-27 April: Voters resident in Egypt in one of those 13 governorates

Making things even more fun: Any necessary runoffs will take place 31 March through 2 April for stage one and 5-7 May for stage two.

Not specified at the Thursday night press conference: Registration details (including deadlines) for candidates weren’t released, but should be made public within a month, the Higher Elections Commission says, per Ahram Online. The commission did, however, specify how it would like journalists to behave during the polls.

Parliament will include 567 seats, as we’ve previously reported: 420 elected as individuals and 120 party lists with quotas for women, Christians and youth. President Abdelfattah El-Sisi will appoint the remaining 27 members.

Inflation inched up back into double-digit territory again, recording 10.1% in December 2014 (pdf from CAPMAS), a two-point surge from 9.1% in November, with food price inflation increasing as well to 8.4% from 7.1% and core CPI falling to 7.69% in December from November’s 7.81%.

The addition of an extra weekly FX auction was the main reason behind the drop in Central Bank of Egypt reserves in December, according to CBE Governor Hisham Ramez. The CBE’s net international reserves fell to USD 15.33 bn last month, down USD 549 mn from November and its lowest level in 17 months.
Private equity heavyweight Abraaj Capital has reportedly acquired 100% of Cleopatra Hospital in a deal reportedly worth EGP 770 mn, according to Al Borsa. Abraaj has yet to issue a news release on the subject.

The Suez Canal recorded its highest level of annual revenues ever in 2014 as it brought in USD 5.456 bn (a 6.3% y-o-y increase from 2013), according to the SIS, after gathering tolls from 17,150 ships carrying about 962 mn tons of goods through the waterway.

President Abdelfattah El-Sisi reviewed preparations for the Sharm El-Sheikh investment conference with Investment Minister Ashraf Salman and Minister of International Cooperation Naglaa El-Ahwany late last week, per a statement from Ittihadiya. Presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef highlighted a number of issues El-Sisi wants resolved before the conference begins, including studies on the projects on offer, the resolution of investor disputes, the new investment law and one-stop shop, and the formation of the Supreme Council for Investment, which, according to the statement “will be tasked with determining investment priorities in Egypt and formulating an investment map that delineates the most important projects and areas for investment, as well as working on overcoming all legal and administrative impediments that investors may face.”

While he arrived to begin his tenure several weeks ago, new U.S. Ambassador Robert Stephen Beecroft has now presented his credentials to Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, according to an MOFA statement dated 08 January. (Read)

Circle Oil received a USD 15 mn payment from the Egyptian government, halving the outstanding debt owed. It’s an encouraging sign when the drumbeat of payment releases make it this far down the list. (Read the release)

Speaking of oil, one of the more thought-provoking pieces on currently low prices that we’ve seen in some time is by Oilprice’s Gail Tverberg writing for Business Insider that we could face “deep trouble with respect to future oil extraction” and that “we may be reaching limits of a finite world.” (Read)

In light of King Abdullah’s recent illness, The Economist has a roundup of the basic issues surrounding succession of the next generation “where hundreds of princes are jostling for power.” If you’ve been following this story, The Economist’s piece offers nothing new, but makes for a brief primer if that’s what you’re looking for. ‘Ail the king: Saudi Arabia’s gerontocracy.’ (Read)

Egyptian-born radical cleric and former imam of Londonistan’s Finsbury Park mosque Abu Hamza has been sentenced to life in prison in the United States following his conviction last May on 11 terror charges. Recent reports indicate one of his senior aides had a possible connection to one of the Charlie Hebdo attackers. Abu Hamza pled to be jailed in a medical facility on account of his diabetes and high blood pressure as opposed to being jailed in the Supermax facility in Colorado. ‘Abu Hamza gets life and is linked to French killers’ in The Independent. (Read)

The Palestinian Authority applied to join the International Criminal Court in the Hague on 1 January, and while the court should take 60 days to process the application, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said Palestine would join the court on 1 April. The Economist questions whether this will really change facts on the ground for the better: “Yet both sides seem to invest the ICC with powers that it has never hitherto shown itself to have. And it could take many years for an investigation to reach conclusion: “‘Look at Africa,’ says a sober Israeli official, in reference to investigations that have stalled in Kenya and Sudan.” (Read)

AFTERMATH OF THE PARIS ATTACKS

The manhunt for the Charlie Hebdo attackers, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, ended on Friday following a seven-hour siege that ended when the gunmen were shot dead by French anti-terrorist police after trying to leave the building in which they were hiring. The Independent has a transcript of the phone interview conducted by French television channel BFMTV with Cherif Kouachi during the siege: “I just want to tell you that we are defenders of the Prophet. I, Chérif Kouachi, was sent by al-Qaeda in Yemen. I was over there. I was financed by Imam Anwar al-Awlaki.” (Read)

AQAP confirmed this in a statement issued to the AP, saying: the group’s leadership “directed the operations and they have chosen their target carefully.” (Read)

A second attack staged by a man named Amedy Coulibaly involved him storming a kosher grocery store and almost immediately gunning down and killing four people and wounding several others. The same television station BFM also spoke with Coulibaly over the phone during his siege, with the latter admitting that he and the Kouachi brothers had coordinated their attacks. However Coulibaly said his operation was spearheaded by Daesh, not AQAP. His partner, Hayat Boumeddiene, is still on the run, and is reported as having entered Turkey on 2 January. She is suspected to be in — or making her way to — Syria. (Read)

The BBC has a detailed timeline and resources for those who are interested in exploring the story in detail, and has also published the obituaries of the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack, however the best roundup is The Economist’s Dénouement.

Meanwhile, another hostage incident in Paris was resolved without casualties and was unrelated to terrorism. The hostage-taker was a thief who held two women hostage in a jewelry store before surrendering to police. (Read)

Observers are now wondering what kind of political ramifications will emerge from the Hebdo attacks, not just in Paris but throughout Europe. In Germany, an anti-immigration group named PEGIDA has been holding rallies for some time now in the city of Dresden. In response to the attacks and PEGIDA’s rallies, residents of Dresden showed up in a rally estimated at 35,000 people to protest against xenophobia and discrimination. (Read)

GLOBAL TERROR ATTACKS

Meanwhile in Nigeria, with much of the world’s attention focused on the Paris attacks, Boko Haram razed an entire town, killing an estimated 2,000 people, mostly women, children and the elderly who could not escape the Islamist militants when the attack came. The attack had started on 3 January and resumed last Wednesday. (Read)

Not ones to rest on their laurels, on Saturday Boko Haram strapped a bomb onto a 10-year old girl who was sent into a crowded marketplace in the city of Maiduguri before the bomb went off, killing at least 16 and injuring more than 20. (Read) In November, Nigeria’s ambassador to the U.S. berated the country for failing to provide Nigeria heavy arms in their fight against Boko Haram due to concerns about the Nigerian military’s human rights abuses. (Read)

The bodies of two young Egyptian men who had gone missing days earlier were found decapitated in the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zwayed. (Read)

Two Egyptian police officers were shot dead on Tuesday in Minya as they stood guard in front of a Coptic church. (Read)

Nine members of the Central Security Forces were injured when unidentified gunmen shot at their vehicle from a building overlooking the Ring Road in Qalyubiya on Friday. (Read)

In Istanbul, two homemade bombs were found planted inside two shopping malls only hours before the anonymous Twitter account Fuat Avni tweeted the following, in one of a long series of tweets:“13. Terror acts are planned to take place in malls and AKP buildings so it could increase rancor and violence against the Gülen movement.” (View the tweet here)

While this may simply be a random coincidence, this is no ordinary Twitter account, as noted by American tabloid Foreign Policy: “Since he began tweeting about a year ago, a Twitter user who goes by the name of “Fuat Avni” has proved to have startlingly accurate knowledge of events before they happen. In a series of tweets Thursday, he announced an imminent crackdown on opposition media affiliated with the U.S.-based Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, naming specific publications that would be targeted. Additional tweets on Saturday revealed that the “operation” would take place on Sunday or Monday and listed names of journalists to be arrested, along with the prosecutor involved … Fuat Avni — who has 670,000 followers on his Turkish-language account and nearly 23,000 on a related English-language account — is believed by some observers to be an insider in the administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.” (Read in FP)

A female suicide bomber blew herself up outside a police station in a district of Istanbul known to be frequented by tourists last Tuesday, as reported by The New York Times (Read).

SCHADENFREUDE

‘Political missteps in Libya cause Turkey’s economy to stumble’: Turkish journalist Zülfikar Doğan writes “Turkey is on the verge of losing Libya after Egypt … diplomatic, political and strategic mistakes by Erdogan and his Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu during the toppling of Gadhafi and its aftermath created serious problems for Turkey and its hundreds of contracting companies, while risking access to the sub-Sahara African market for which Turkey had serious hopes … Turkey is losing Libya. It is Egypt that counts in Libya now, with no more mention of Turkey. The machinery, work sites and assets of hundreds of Turkish firms were set afire and looted. They are owed USD 5 bn, but as there is no political authority or working administration, we are not paid. We had to repatriate thousands of our workers.” (Read)

As we first reported on Thursday, it appears there is a possibility that Hamas leaders have been asked to leave Qatar, although what timeframe they have to leave or if Turkey will be their final stop is unknown, according to Israeli writer Shlomi Eldar writing for Al-Monitor: “Despite initial reports, it remains uncertain whether Turkey will be the final stop for Meshaal and the other senior members of his bureau. However, the movement’s leaders, who were quick to deny that they had been banished from Qatar, already admit that they were told to discontinue their diplomatic activity in the emirate.In fact, by all indications, the political bureau in Qatar no longer exists, and Hamas’ senior officials are merely tourists there. It should be noted that when the organization’s senior members left their offices in Damascus for Qatar in January 2012, its spokesmen were quick to emphatically deny the reports.” (Read)

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

International media attention on Egypt on the heels of the weekend and into this morning were centered on the resumption of football matches between Al-Ahly and Al-Masry for the first time since the deadly Port Said match in 2012 that claimed the lives of 72 victims. The teams faced off in Gouna on Saturday, with the game ending in a 1-1 draw. The story has been picked up by Al Jazeera, the BBC and the AFP. Local coverage in Ahram Online noted that Al-Ahly honored the dead by hoisting a banner that read “our martyrs are a badge of honour on our chests.” (Read)

Another story beginning to gain traction is growing awareness among the right / far-right in the United States of President Abdelfattah El Sisi’s recent address to Al Azhar, where he called for a “religious revolution.” As noted above in the Talk Show roundup, The Washington Times, a right-wing ‘newspaper,’ ran the story with a fairly remarkable title: ‘Will Egypt show America how to win the war on radical Islamic jihadism?’“Unlike Mr. Obama, the president of Egypt grasps a chance to achieve greatness. We need to join with him, stand up for freedom, and reject barbarism.” (Read)

In the same vein, and commenting on the same address given by President El Sisi, right-wing radio talk show host Mark Levin echoed the Times’ sentiment: “He’s made more sense in one speech than Barack Obama has in any speech, in any speech.” (Read and / or Listen)

The World Bank’s MENA Voices and Views blog brings to the forefront the problem of overpopulation, what they call Egypt’s quiet existential crisis. The national family planning programme, which functioned well in the 1980s and 1990s, has now fallen off the agenda and population is expected to double to 160 mn by 2050. The post proposes adopting a response similar to Iran’s, but stresses that the key to controlling a surge in population growth rates is improving access to education.

In the mood for something lighter? Check out this visually stunning photo essay by Gianmarco Maraviglia for the Washington Post: Rage against the regime: The hip-hop artists spearheading Egypt’s underground social revolution. (If you’re like most of our subscribers and read Enterprise on your handset, it’s worth re-opening that last link on your laptop or desktop.)

WHAT YOU CLICKED ON LAST WEEK

The five most-clicked-on stories last week were:

• 16 most ‘shocking’ Charlie Hebdo covers (Daily Beast)
• Niall Ferguson: The ‘Divergent’ World of 2015 (Wall Street Journal)
• From Oil Exports to Ride-Sharing, What to Watch in Business in 2015 (Wall Street Journal)
• Kellogg Bids for Egyptian Snack Maker Bisco Misr (Wall Street Journal)
• Key economic decrees in 2014 (Daily News Egypt)

WORTH READING

In ‘Turkey: slipping into the vortex?’ the FT’s international affairs editor David Gardner describes the parallel universe Erdogan has created, all the while eliminating the parallel state he alleges the Gulenist have created. “‘At a presidential awards ceremony last month, the novelist Alev Alatli, upon receiving the literary prize, told Erdogan that “if George Orwell were alive today, he would have stood up and applauded you.’ The president smiled and his wife Ermine was moved to tears.” (Read)

WORTH WATCHING

The technology featured in this video could help revolutionize sanitation in the developing world, but the video itself is not for the weak-stomached. Watch Bill Gates drink purified water that five minutes prior was sewage. It left us feeling both nauseated and full of hope and optimism. (Watch)

WORTH CHECKING OUT

The Economist adds a slider to ‘Why world maps are misleading’ that lets you quickly compare Mercator to Peters projections of the world to see how our choice of maps skews our perception of geographic reality, one way or another. Onward links take you to past Economist discussions of geography in the digital revolution, how Google represents border disputes, and the true size of Africa.

DIPLOMACY

The Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Mathias I began his six-day visit of Egypt yesterday, in a positive foreign policy achievement. The Patriarch was set to meet Prime Minister Mehleb yesterday, and will meet with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi at the end of his visit. (Read)

All-purpose Islamist mouthpiece Middle East Monitor notes that the “Director of the Rabat Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, Khalid al-Samouni, stressed the need to ‘overcome the media rows and return to a situation or normalcy,’” between Egypt and Morocco. (Read)

Daily News Egypt reports on Egypt’s diplomatic efforts to secure one of the rotating seats at the United Nations Security Council: “On Tuesday, [Foreign Minister Sameh] Shoukry will visit Kenya to address the 129th Session of the UN Committee of Permanent Representatives at the UN Office in Nairobi. As part of the visit, Shoukry will host a lunch where he is to speak about Egypt’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council.” (Read)

ENERGY, RENEWABLE ENERGY & SUBSIDY REFORM

Egypt qualifies 49 companies for wind FIT
Wind Power Monthly | 06 Jan 2015
Forty-nine companies have qualified to build wind power projects of up to 50 MW each in the first round of an Egyptian tender for independent power producers launched in November. Thirty-six projects are 20-50 MW, and 13 projects are under 20 MW. Qualified projects are eligible to receive a feed-in tariff amounting to USD 114.8 per MWh for 2,500-3,000 operating hours or USD 95.7 per MWh for 3,100-4,000 hours for the first five years. A sliding scale will then be used for the next 15 years, varying from USD 114.8 per MWh for 2,500 hours to USD 46 for 4,000 hours. The government will hold new qualification rounds every three months until it reaches its target of 2 GW. (Read)

OIL & GAS

Six new exploration agreements in the Gulf of Suez and the Western Desert signed
Amwal Al Ghad, Eni Press Release | 09 Jan 2015
The Ministry of Petroleum signed six new agreements for oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Suez and Western Desert regions with a minimum investment value of USD 271.5 mn. The agreements were signed with IOCs including Shell, BP, Eni’s subsidiary IEOC, and Trans Globe and entail a USD 124 mn commitment to dig 41 wells. According to the ministry, the agreements signed are part of a drive to sign 20 new E&P agreements in pipeline currently. On their website, Eni announced that its concession agreement is located in the South-West Melehia block in the Western Desert and covers an area of 2,058 square kilometers. Eni produces c. 210,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. (Read in Arabic or check out Eni’s press release)

Egypt and Algeria to hold talks in January to increase LNG imports
Youm7 | 07 Jan 2015
Egypt and Algeria will hold talks later this month to extend LNG imports through 2020 from the present 2016 in response to increasing fuel demands. Oil Minister Sherif Ismail had announced last month that Egypt signed an agreement with Algeria to import six LNG shipments, each containing 125,000 cubic meters, in 2015. This followed an agreement with Hoegh of Norway for a floating storage and regasification unit to be docked at the Port of Ain Sokhna in March. (Read in Arabic)

Oil and gas investment could decrease in 2015 – former oil minister
Al Masry Al Youm | 07 Jan 2015
The drop in oil prices has driven IOCs in Egypt to reduce their budgeted E&P expenditures by about 30%, according to former oil minister Ossama Kamal. Kamal expects that this spending reduction will have a negative impact on investment in Egypt, but he also noted he projects prices to rebound in 2015. (Read in Arabic)

Edison’s local subsidiary to dig exploratory gas well in Western Desert
Al Masry Al Youm | 08 Jan 2015
Abu Qir Petroleum, a joint venture between Edison and EGPC, announced it’ll begin digging an exploratory gas well in the Western Desert in one of its concessions at a cost of USD 2 mn. Initial estimations project a production capacity from the well of 400 mcf per day. (Read in Arabic)

Transport ministry, Suez Canal Authority won’t allow Port Said pier to be used for gas imports — Oil Ministry
Daily News Egypt | 10 Jan 2015
The use of a pier in Port Said to receive a second regasification boat for the import of LNG has been rejected by the  Ministry of Transport and the Suez Canal Authority, according to a source within the Ministry of Petroleum speaking to Daily News Egypt. No reasons were immediately offered according to the source, but will be revealed at some unspecified time, and no further substantial details were available. (Read)

BASIC MATERIALS & COMMODITIES

Centamin expects to produce 420,000 gold ounces from Sukkari in 2015
Al Mal, Ahram Online | 08 Jan 2015
Centamin anticipates its gold production from the Sukkari gold mine to increase by 115 y-o-y reach 420,000 ounces in 2015. This comes despite the decreased production projection in November 2014 which followed a worsening of the quality of the gold produced from the gold mine. According to Al Mal, the 2015 projection will disappoint the market as analysts had projected production to reach 445-475,000 ounces. Centamin produced slightly over 377,000 ounces of gold in 2014. (Read in Arabic or check out Ahram Online)

MANUFACTURING

Faragallah to build five new factories in Borg El Arab
Amwal Al Ghad | 07 Jan 2015
Faragallah Food Industries is targeting the completion of an EGP 1 bn investment to build five new factories by April, according to the group’s Chairman, Mohamed Farag Amer. The factories will be built in Borg El Arab aim to expand the group’s production lines including biscuits and juices. The new investment is expected to create 1,500 new job opportunities directly. (Read in Arabic)

REAL ESTATE

Orascom Hotels and Development to restart halted projects
Bloomberg | 08 Jan 2015
Orascom Hotels and Development said it intends to restart projects that were put in hold since 2011 as tourism begins revive. “We always said that we will be coming back to the Egyptian market when the situation stabilizes and now things are becoming more stable,” Eskandar Tooma, chief financial officer of ODH told Bloomberg. The projects include resuming the construction of the Four Seasons hotel and real estate complex El Gouna and restarting sales in other projects including Joubal and Ancient Sands. (Read)

TELECOMS

EGP 30 bn in ICT projects to be presented during the March investment summit
Amwal Al Ghad | 08 Jan 2015
The Ministry of ICT will present five investment opportunities worth EGP 30 bn during the March investment summit, according to Minister Atef Helmy. The potential opportunities include developing a technology hub and other projects at the technology hub in Maadi. (Read in Arabic)

TOURISM

Chinese cooperation agreement on tourism bearing fruit?
Press Note from SIS | 11 Jan 2015
The Ministry of Tourism and China’s ambassador to Cairo will hold a joint press conference on Thursday to announce plans to celebrate what the release called “the traditional Chinese Spring on 13 February and a public festival on 14 February.” Our take is that this represents an unprecedented level of cooperation in the tourism portfolio with the world’s largest outbound tourism market.

OTHER BUSINESS NEWS OF NOTE

Works to dig seven tunnels under the Suez Canal to begin this month
Al Borsa | 08 Jan 2015
Multiple consortia will begin digging seven tunnels connecting the Suez Canal’s western and eastern banks by mid this month. The project cost is projected to reach USD 4.2 bn and comes as part of the Suez Canal’s corridor development project. Two of the tunnels will be allocated to railway, four for motor vehicles, and one for general services. (Read in Arabic)

Industrial Development Authority open to bids for Kafr El-Dawar industrial land
Al Mal | 10 Jan 2015
The General Authority for Industrial Development is now accepting tenders for plots on 170,000 sqm of industrial land in phase two of Kafr El Dawar City. Thirty textile factories will be built in the area, with their sizes ranging between 1,000 to 12,000 square meters. In an interview with Al Mal, the head of GAID, Maj. Gen. Ismail Gaber, said that the Authority will begin accepting tender offers starting yesterday up until the 12 February 2015. Gaber also noted that the GAID on Saturday started accepting tenders for plots on 500,000 sqm of land on which 167 projects in food, basic materials, and pharmaceutical products will be constructed across the country’s newly established industrial cities. (Read both stories in Al Mal in Arabic: GAID offers 170,000 sqm for 30 textile projects, GAID offers 500,000 sqm for 167 projects)

EGYPT POLITICS + ECONOMICS

Rafah to be completely evacuated to build buffer zone – Northern Sinai Governor
Al Masry Al Youm | 08 Jan 2015
The Governor of Northern Sinai issued a statement saying that creating a buffer zone with Gaza necessitates the complete evacuation and leveling of the Egyptian city of Rafah. He topped that by noting that the government is already in process of designing building “New Rafah” will compensate the evacuated citizens. Evacuated households will each receive EGP 1,500 to find temporary housing. (Read in Arabic)

Investment Minister: Restructuring private sector, promoting investment climate are ministry’s focus
Youm 7 | 11 Jan 2015
The Ministry of Investment is targeting a 3.9% growth rate in investment in Egypt, according to Minister of Investment Ashraf Salman. Salman noted that Fitch having raised Egypt’s credit rating can only confirm that the country is on the right path, adding that the new investment law will be much easier to deal with and will ease licensing and establishment processes. The minister stressed that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE will continue to support Egypt by investing in the country as well as continuing to provide economic aid. He noted that the adjustments to the investment law that the bourse regulator submitted were examined by his ministry, and will be subject to review by the Cabinet Economic Committee within the next two weeks. Salman believes that “in the next two years the investment climate in Egypt will be stronger, and at that point the [current] cabinet should be dissolved.” (Read in Arabic)

REGIONAL

Anti-shale protests in Algeria
Interfax | 09 Jan 2015
Protests began at In Salah, an oasis town with nearby shale exploration last week, with unrest spreading to the provincial capital Tamanrasset on Thursday, according to local media reports. A general lack of information from the government and other local media outlets on Friday meant it was impossible to confirm whether the protests are continuing, but Geoffrey Howard, an analyst at London-based political risk consultancy Control Risks, said the presumption should be that they are still ongoing. Algeria holds the world’s third-largest shale deposits. (Read)

Middle East drives Rolls Royce’s record sales growth
Bloomberg Businessweek ME | 07 Jan 2015
The Middle East became Rolls Royce’s second largest market globally in 2014. Last year was the first time in the luxury car manufacturer’s history to sell more than 4,000 vehicles. Rolls Royce banked on the growth of private wealth in the Middle East and sales in the region grew by 20% y-o-y in 2014 following a 17% y-o-y growth in 2013. (Read)

ON YOUR WAY OUT

Industry experts weigh in with differing opinions on Egypt’s recently passed mining law: ‘A positive step for mining?’  (Read in Zawya)

A shipment of butane gas departing from Yanbu’ was held in Saudi Arabia since Wednesday because of poor weather conditions in Egyptian ports. (Read in Arabic)
300 Egyptian fishermen who were trapped in Misrata due to fighting have escaped in fishing boats but must still navigate record low temperatures and a lack of open ports on the way back to Egypt. (Read)

BY THE NUMBERS

USD (CBE auction): 7.1401 (unchanged)
USD (parallel market): 7.80 (unchanged)

EGX30 (Thursday): 8,946.34 (+1.68%)
Turnover: EGP 532 mn, 23% below the 90-day average

EGX30 (last week): +0.22
EGX30 (year-to-date): +0.22

WTI: USD 48.36 (-0.88%)
Brent: USD 50.11 (-1.67%)

TASI: 8,284.9 (+1.9%)
ADX: 4,478.8 (+1.2%)
DFM: 3,674.3 (+2.1%)
KSE: 434.1 (+0.7%)
QE: 12,305.5 (+3.4%)
MSM: 6,253.6 (+0.8%)