Ahmed Ezz remains talk of the town (for media, at least). Naguib Sawiris to buy 53% of Euronews. New body to deregulate gas market? Institutional Investor bullish on Egypt. Egypt’s World Bank cap to rise. Cairo Metro contract inked. Egyptian basketballer in NY Times.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee is meeting later today. We expect the current interest rate levels to be held as the CBE gauges the impact of its previous rate cut on price levels in the lead up to the Sharm investment conference. Reuters, meanwhile, says four of the six economists it has polled expect the CBE to leave the overnight rates unchanged at 9.75% for lending and 8.75% for deposits; two others, the wire service said, expect a 50-basis-point cut. Says Jason Tuevy at Capital Economics: “We think the central bank will hold off on cuts until the third quarter, when the effect of last year’s energy price hikes fall out of the inflation data.”

Will a new body (de)regulate the natural gas market? That’s what the local press would have us believe, with Oil Minister Sherif Ismail reportedly having issued a decree establishing a new unit at EGAS that will “regulate the natural gas market until a special authority is formed within the next six months” with responsibility for pushing forward with deregulation. More here.

There are still at least 500,000 Egyptians in Libya. Labor and Immigration Minister Nahed El-Ashry said yesterday that there are 500,000 to 800,000 Egyptians still working in Libya. It’s a figure that underscores the scope of the security liability the Sisi administration faces to the west — and of the economic challenge the nation would face if a significant number were to return home en masse. For context: We believe roughly there are roughly 700,000 people who come of working age in Egypt every year. Ahram Onlinereports that EgyptAir brought home 255 citizens yesterday in the third such evacuation flight since Egypt struck Daesh targets in Derna nearly two weeks ago. As many as 13,000 have returned home through the Salloum border crossing in the same period.

Saudi Arabia has reiterated its backing of the upcoming Sharm economic conference, a development less important than, say, a week ago when Egypt widely feared the cold shoulder from the GCC in the ongoing spat with Qatar — but nonetheless welcome. See more in today’s Diplomacy section, below.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The EFG Hermes One on One 2015, the region’s largest MENA-focused investor conference, gets underway on Monday at Atlantis The Palm, Dubai. View the official website here.

The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) kicks off in Cairo on Monday and runs through Friday.

Following President Abdelfattah El Sisi’s speech on Sunday, a number of observers inside the country and abroad will be watching in the coming days for the promised release of hundreds of young people detained in Egypt’s prisons, following disappointment that a similar promise made for the release of detained youth on 25 January 2015 did not include a majority of lists of names submitted by national human rights organizations for the government’s consideration. (Read)

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

Rania Badawi addressed the inexplicable winter power outages that have become a daily occurrence in many areas across the country. “We can understand why this happens in the summer when temperatures are high and demand exceeds supply, but the winter power outages are a bit puzzling. Is it a result of maintenance? Malfunctions? What will the summer be like?” asked Badawi.

“We don’t mind putting up with the outages, but I want officials to come out and say what is going on. I want to know what the plan is for building new power plants. We want to see a concrete plan for how we are going to solve this problem. Instead, we get people saying we will have no power outages this summer etc. These are the same statements that we have been hearing for the past 10 years; excuses and a refusal to take responsibility,” said Badawi.

Khairy Ramadan, in his first television appearance of the week, took his turn at trashing Qatar and reveling in the fact that western media appears to have turned hostile towards the Gulf state.

“Obama is saying one thing and U.S. Congress is saying another—the complete opposite. The arms that the U.S. is selling to Qatar are being used by Qatar to arm the terrorists. It’s a comical situation when you think about it,” said Ramadan.

Ramadan also took fault with the fact that despite the dollar crisis in the country, importers are still being allowed to import luxury goods. According to Ramadan, “We spend USD 153 mn on dog and cat food imports per annum, USD 178 mn on caviar and shrimp imports, and USD 155 mn on imported toys. These things are very frustrating for at least half the country that lives in poverty. Don’t add to people’s frustrations. I call on Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab to take action,’ said Ramadan.

Youssef El Houssieny continued with the Qatar bashing, taking a rather insulting tone when talking about the Qatari Emir, referring to him multiple times as “this ghulam” (young boy or young slave in Arabic).

“With all due respect to the Qatari people, your leader is taking you down a dead-end road. He is creating a huge rift between you and the rest of the Arab world and that rift will continue to grow as long as he is ruling you,” said El Housseiny.

El Houssieny interviewed Diaa Rashwan, the Head of the Egyptian Press Syndicate.

Ibrahim Eissa, meanwhile, interviewed political analyst and former parliamentarian Amr El Shobaky on the parliamentary elections, the failure of political parties to form a strong coalition that will compete effectively in the next election, and the lack of political vision in the country. “We have a real crisis when it comes to the performance of our political parties and we have an election law that is currently full of faults,” said El Shobaky.

SPEED ROUND

The Supreme Constitutional Court will rule on Sunday on the constitutionality of the elections law under which the multi-phase poll for the House of Representatives is due to take place starting 21 March. The Associated Press and Ahram Online have background on challenges to the law’s redrawing of electoral districts, among other provisions.

Talaat Moustafa Group has reportedly reached a settlement with the government over its flagship Madinaty project. We could find few details of the settlement by dispatch time; Ahram Online has the basics and some background.

The major decisions taken during the weekly meeting of the Mahlab cabinet yesterday include:

• Ordering the resumption of the Egyptian football league following a mourning period that ends on 20 March. (Read in Arabic) Fans will again be barred from attending, as reported by BBC Sports, quoting a Cabinet statement.
• Approving the granting of 14 different projects via direct award. (Read in Arabic)
• Approving the formation of the Religious Endowments Authority’s board of directors. (Read in Arabic)
• Forming a committee to assess the means to deal with the victims of terrorism in Libya. (Read in Arabic)
• Including the New Toshka project as part of NUCA’s developmental plans. (Read in Arabic)
• Approving the suggestions and decisions made at the Ministerial Engineering subcommittee meeting, which took place on 18 February 2015. (Read in Arabic)

EZZ WATCH: While watching Ahmed Ezz’s recent, bizarre televised confession on Khaled Salah’s program on Al Nahar, one cannot help but feel concerned about social cohesion at the very least, and at the worst about getting purged due to the reintroduction of divisive figures such as Ahmed Ezz into public life. His recent attempt at a charm offensive of the Egyptian media has not gone well for him, as we noted earlier this week during his call-in to Amr Adeeb’s show. On Tuesday, his aforementioned appearance on Al Nahar, Ezz admitted to being responsible for cancelling judicial oversight in the 2010 parliamentary elections, as well as responsibility for the resulting discontent that led in part to 25 January 2011. To his credit, while Ezz took some responsibility, and while his argument against political exclusion is technically sound, if he were truly concerned about the national interest over his own self-aggrandizement, we wouldn’t have to be having this unfortunate national discussion in the first place. His insistence on appealing a decision to run in upcoming parliamentary elections despite no one wanting him to are temporarily overshadowed by the absurdity of Egyptians attempting to call in to Al Nahar to give Ezz a piece of their minds. (Watch in Arabic, running time: 3:23)

The Ezz interview is divided into segments; Watch in Arabic his statements about passing amendments that removed judicial oversight in the 2010 parliamentary elections, running time: 6:11)

Institutional Investor is bullish about Egypt, with a piece out yesterday quoting Acadian Asset Management’s L. Bryan Carter as noting “The market believes Egypt has gone backwards a little from being an emerging-market country to more of a frontier country, as a result of the revolution and the detachment from international capital markets for several years. This is a misconception.” The piece notes the upcoming Sharm economic conference as a major milestone on which to keep one’s eyes.

Current wave of blackouts due to fuel shortage, poor condition of power stations? Al-Borsa picks up where Rania Badawi left off last night, claiming a shortage of fuel at power stations is partly to blame for the return of blackouts nationwide, according to Al Borsa. The Ministry of Electricity is only receiving a daily average of 100 mcm of gas and equivalent out of a contracted 104 mcm per day. The problem is compounded with having power stations that are over 10 years old going needing repairs every two weeks due to the heavy usage of mazut over the summer, with some power stations that are more than 30 years old going completely offline. (Read in Arabic)

Naguib Sawiris is planning to acquire a 53% stake in Euronews. The transaction, which will apparently involve Sawiris subscribing to a capital increase, is estimated to be worth EUR 35 mn. Al-Masry Al-Youm has the story in Arabic; Le figaro has the deal in French (paywall). Sawiris himself has RT’ed a tweet by a Euronews journalist that includes a photograph of the print version of the Figaro story.

Khairy Ramadan came to the defense of ONTV anchor Laila Daoud after she tweeted her about her dismay with the MOI following the handing of five-year sentences to the Shura Council demonstrators earlier this week. Ramadan declared, “We live in a democratic country, where every person is entitled to express their opinion, and our retorts should not be insults but should be with respect and logic.” (Read in Arabic) Naguib Sawiris has also reportedly come to Daoud’s defense, in what may be seen as a broader defense of the shrinking space for independent journalism in Egypt.

Government inks contracts for fourth phase of the third Cairo Metro line. Contracts for the fourth phase projects of the third metro line were signed yesterday at a gathering attended by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab and France’s ambassador to Egypt. The fourth phase will be 18.15 kilometers long with 14 stations and will be developed in three jumps with significant financing from the French government. The phase will connect Heliopolis Square with the Cairo International Airport, with France’s VINCI Bouygues Travaux Public leading a consortium that includes Thales and Orascom. Al-Masry Al-Youm and Ahram Onlinehave more.

New Suez Canal won’t harm the environment –Government report: According to a report by Egypt’s National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, the Suez Canal Development Project will have a minimal impact on marine ecosystems in the Red Sea and Mediterranean, according to a statement received yesterday from the state-run Cairo Press Center. In fact, according to the institute, the expansion of the canal could have a positive impact on the environment due to a decrease in fossil fuel consumption by vessels. These claims stand in sharp contrast to statements made by Bella Galil, a senior scientist at Israel’s National Institute of Oceanography, who believes the expansion could have a disastrous effect on Egypt’s marine ecology, due to its introduction of nonindigenous species into the Red and Mediterranean Seas. We noted Galil’s work in pieces run by Vice and the New York Times last fall.

World Bank to double Egypt’s financing cap to USD 2 bn, in talks to finance projects at investment summit: The World Bank Group is currently in process of raising the cap on funding to Egypt gradually over the next few years, according to WBG senior economist, Ahmed Kouchouk, per Al-Borsa. The increase is expected to begin following the Sharm economic summit and rise gradually over the next four years, eventually increasing the cap from USD 1 bn to USD 2 bn annually. The World Bank is currently negotiating with the government the possibility of financing some of the projects that will be presented at the summit, the newspaper says.

In related news: The World Bank’s Group second round of the 2015-2019 Country Partnership Framework (CPF) discussions to prepare for a new partnership strategy in Egypt is taking place in Cairo, Alexandria, and Aswan this week. The CPF aims at supporting Egypt’s development priorities consistent with the regional strategy of the WBG. Gerard Byam, the WBG’s acting VP for MENA said “we are very pleased to come back to our stakeholders and inform them on how we made use of their valuable input… we are very pleased to reach out to various governorates especially those in Upper Egypt.”
The Cairo Criminal Court will hand down on 16 May 2015 its final verdict in the jailbreak trial of former president Mohamed Morsi and some 130 others.

Egypt hosts donor conference to raise funds for South Sudan Dam -Water and Irrigation Ministry: Egypt reportedly hosted a donor conference in Wau, South Sudan yesterday to call on the international community to raise funds for dam in the South Sudanese town which is set to completely provide for the town’s energy needs. Egypt hosted the conference at its expense at a reported cost of USD 1 mn, and provided the designs and feasibility studies for the dam as well over a 3-day workshop held between Egyptian Ministry of Water and Irrigation officials and their South Sudanese counterparts. (Read the SIS release, Egypt Independent’s coverage as well as reporting on the dam in the South Sudanese media)

‘Egypt ready for change in a cash economy’: The National has a long piece on MasterCard’s efforts to introduce mobile banking to the Egyptian market following an agreement signed with the government last month. The article also notes that while Uber reports that while the response to their recent introduction to the Egyptian market has been strong, it has been hampered by their operating requirement of customer’s signing up with a credit card. The company hopes to sidestep this by exploring mobile banking, in a move the company rolled out in the similarly unbanked market in India.

GCC Sec-Gen, ambassadors meet with Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, reiterates GCC support: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Abdullatif al-Zayani held talks on Wednesday in Aden, Yemen with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, as reported by Al Arabiya. The meeting was also attended by a number of Gulf Arab ambassadors, signaling their support for the embattled president following his escape from the capital and announcement of his intention to continue his term. (Read)

Petroceltic chief survives ouster attempt by Worldview hedge fund, board rejects motion to appoint Worldview chief executive to the board: Worldview however, is contesting the proxy votes on account of their claim that Petroceltic rejected their request to examine the votes that were cast during the meeting, according to a report by FT.

WORTH READING

Bloomberg published a piece yesterday focusing on the roles of two Saudi princes in the reshuffled royal court: Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, who was made deputy crown prince, and the lesser known son of King Salman, Mohammed bin Salman, the defense minister, head of the economic “and gatekeeper to the royal court.” (Read Two Princes Are Rising Stars of King Salman’s Saudi Arabia)

We’ve been following off and on for some time now news of protests against the extraction of shale gas in Algeria. Algeria has indicated that despite the demonstrations, the government insists it will not carry out activities harmful to the environment or the health of its citizens and said that it will move forward with its plans to pursue fracking. The New York Times’ deep dive here asserts that the protests have been taking place daily. As we noted in our 17 February issue regarding the potential for a succession crisis, an eye should be kept on these protests on fracking to see if grievances begin to snowball into any sort of larger movement. Read: Shale Gas Project Encounters Determined Foes Deep in Algerian Sahara

WORTH WATCHING

(notes on) biology, or: what’s really going on in our notebooks during meetings: This PBS stop-motion animated short of a notebook doodle that takes on a life of its own during a high school biology class could easily stand in for what is actually going on in most people’s notebooks during meetings. (Watch, running time: 5 minutes)

A Bahraini tries living a day in the life of a migrant worker: Well, maybe not actually an entire day, more like a half an hour, but this is actually a nice effort to asking people living in the Gulf to be more considerate to the guest workers in their countries as well as to consider the possibility of getting out of their cars and getting what they want from a store. (Watch in Arabic with English subtitles, running time: 2:30)

DIPLOMACY

Saudi Arabia reiterates support for Sharm investment summit: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met his Saudi Arabian counterpart Emir Saud Al Faisal yesterday in Paris where they discussed Egypt’s upcoming investment summit next month as well as the unrest in Libya and Yemen. Emir Al Faisal said that Saudi Arabia supports the summit, according to a statement by the MOFA as reported by Ahram Online. (Read)

The Paris visit by Minister Shoukry is the second leg of his international tour that began in Tunisia on Tuesday and will include stops in Russia and China. Minister Shoukry was set to arrive in Moscow yesterday evening to attend a joint meeting with the Russian and Palestinian foreign ministers on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. (Read)

Libya political deal won’t defeat ‘terrorism’ -Shoukry: Foreign Minister Shoukry said Egypt supports the negotiations between the internationally-recognized government in Tobruk, Libya and the Islamist rebels in Tripoli, but insisted they were not enough, in remarks made during a press conference on Tuesday in Cairo. “The approach by several countries, which imagine an accord between politicians will deal with the effects of terrorism, is astonishing.” (Read)

Minister of Industry and Trade travels to Spain on two-day trip, expected to sign agreement on Egyptian-Spanish business council: Egypt’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour travelled to Madrid on Wednesday, as part of a two-day trip aimed at enhancing economic ties between the countries. Fakhry is expected to sign two agreements with representatives from the Spanish government, while in  Madrid. The first agreement strives to enhance economic ties between the countries by removing obstacles to trade. The second agreement aims to establish a Egyptian-Spanish business council, comprising prominent business executives and government officials from both countries. (Read in Arabic)

Khalid El Sadr: UK fully supports Egypt’s investment summit: The Egyptian House of Representatives’ secretary general, Khalid El Sadr, met with the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, on Wednesday morning. During their meeting, Casson expressed his country’s full support for Egypt’s upcoming investment summit, according to Sadr. Additionally, the two discussed ways in which the United Kingdom could provide training to Egyptian parliamentarian. (Read in Arabic)

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

It had been eight whole days since the last Washington Post editorial on Egypt was published. Please pardon the delay and find their latest editorial here: The Obama administration refuses to break its silence on Egypt’s repression.

Is Congress backing Sisi’s battle against Islamists?: Al-Monitor has a roundup of yesterday’s session of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs meeting, where lawmakers from both sides of the isle, as well as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were in agreement over the resumption of frozen military aid to Egypt. (Read) While the video of Secretary Kerry’s testimony is available online (Watch, running time:13:53), the segment does not include the Q&A session noted in the aforementioned article.

Egyptian Center Makes a Name for Himself in Division II: The New York Times profiles up-and-coming Egyptian college basketball center Assem Marei, who plays for Minnesota State University. Coach Matt Margenthaler notes that while “Marei might be too small to play center in the N.B.A. … he believes he can thrive in a European league.” (Read)

OPINION: Discrimination by Law: Former editor-in-chief of Daily News Egypt Rana Allam writes on a number of the disparities between men and women under Egyptian law, not the least of which is that man can get away with their wife’s murder if their wives are ‘caught in the act,’ but that the opposite does not hold true. (Read)

ENERGY, RENEWABLE ENERGY & SUBSIDY REFORM

Feed-in-tariff proposal draws in reservations from investors – SEDA
Amwal Al Ghad | 24 Feb 2015
Investors have a few reservations regarding the proposed feed-in-tariff system, according Khaled Gasser, the Chairman of the Solar Energy Development Association (SEDA). Gasser believes the tariff does not take “the social or the economic element” of lower income households into consideration. He adds that since the cost of producing electricity from renewable source will be equal to the government’s purchase price, the incentive for small scale renewable energy producers to operate will disappear. The feed-in-tariff also did not factor maintenance and labor costs in, Gasser says. (Read in Arabic) However, a recent piece in the Middle East Institute presents an argument in defense of the move: “Omar Hosny, chief technical officer at KarmSolar, notes that the government had a reason for giving less attractive tariffs to the segments below 500 MW. It wants to limit the number of small-scale installations to ensure that the grid can handle all the changes. … It would be much tougher for the government to control small, scattered solar installations and to make sure the grid can tolerate them, given its lack of stability.” (Read)

OIL & GAS

EGAS to set up a new department to oversee gas exploration activities
Al Mal | 25 Feb 2015
EGAS will set up a new department to oversee gas exploration activities until a separate holding regulatory entity is set, according to Khaled Abdel Badie, the head of EGAS. Abdel Badie says the new entity should be read in six months and will allow for direct sales between gas producers and consumers without the government’s involvement.  It will also allow for direct importation of natural gas and the usage of national pipelines for transport. Amira El Mazni, the assistant chairperson for business development at ENPPI, was tasked to act as deputy chief of the new gas holding entity. (Read in Arabic)

Omanoil signs QuadOil as the exclusive dealer of lubricants in Egypt
Times of Oman | 24 Feb 2015
The Oman Oil Marketing Company (Omanoil) signed QuadOil as its exclusive dealer for its lubricants brand in Egypt. “QuadOil share our high standards for quality and service as well as understand market requirements… we are confident that the Omanoil brand will establish a strong foothold in Egypt through this partnership,” a GM at Omanoil said. This marks Omanoil’s expansion into over 15 countries since the launch of its product range in 2007. (Read)

BASIC MATERIALS & COMMODITIES

National Cement Company negotiating a EGP 250 mn loan
Al Mal | 25 Feb 2015
The National Cement Company is currently in negotiations for a EGP 250 mn loan from four banks, according to Al Mal. If the talks are successful, the loan will be syndicated across CIB, Banque Misr, QNB, and Emirates NBD. The company will use the funding to improve production efficiency and increase production capacity. (Read in Arabic)

MANUFACTURING

Toyota Egypt’s spare parts distribution starts operations
Moheet | 25 Feb 2015
Toyota Egypt began operations of its EGP 120 mn spare parts distribution center in Sadat City. The distribution center is the largest of its kind in North Africa and the second largest in the Middle East after Dubai’s. The center will reportedly be able to cover Egyptian Toyota drivers’ spare parts demands over the upcoming ten years. (Read in Arabic)

HEALTHCARE

A&E cases to be treated in private hospitals if needed, state to bear the cost
Al Borsa | 25 Feb 2015
Commissioners at the Supreme Constitutional Court issued an opinion that requires private hospitals to provide care for all of accident and emergency cases arriving for the first 24 hours. The state will bear the cost of care during the period after which the patients are allowed to either stay at the private hospitals on their own personal cost, or be moved to a public hospital. (Read in Arabic)

REAL ESTATE

Government to present a project to build Egypt’s tallest skyscraper at the Sharm summit
Al Borsa | 25 Feb 2015
The Minister of Housing said the government will present a project to build Egypt’s tallest skyscraper at the Sharm economic conference in March. The project will be called the Zayed Crystal Spark, according to Al Borsa, and besides including the construction of a 49-storey central building, the project includes residential and recreational complexes located at Sheikh Zayed City with direct access to the 26 July Axis leading straight to central Cairo. The government is mainly seeking an investor to develop the project and optimize the usage of the land. (Read in Arabic)

ODH signs contract with Montenegro leasing Lastavica Island for 49 years
Reuters | 25 Feb 2015
Orascom Development Holding signed a contract with the government of Montenegro for the long-term lease of the Lastavica Island with the Mamula Fortress in the Bay of Kotor. The lease is for 49 years with investment there planned via a joint venture company. Samih O. Sawiris and ODH have secured funding for the project, Reuters reports. (Read)

OTHER BUSINESS NEWS OF NOTE

Regular maritime route between Egypt and Algeria to be inaugurated
Al Mal | 25 Feb 2015
The Maritime Transport Sector (MTS) agreed to inaugurate a regular maritime route between Egypt and Algeria. The MTS is looking to implement the terms of the maritime cooperation agreement signed between the two countries in 1995. Also being looked into currently are investment opportunities in Algerian and Egyptian ports. (Read in Arabic)

EGYPT POLITICS + ECONOMICS

Egyptian economist: 42% of Egypt’s laborers work in SMEs
Youm7 | 25 Feb 2015
According to economist Dr. Aliaa El Mahdy, 42% percent of Egypt’s workers are employed in SMEs, making the sector the country’s largest in terms of the number of people it employs.  Consequently, solving the sector’s various problems-  insufficient government support and training for employees, to name a few –  should have a substantially positive impact on Egypt’s economy, said Dr. El Mahdy. There are approximately 3 mn SMEs operating throughout the republic, engaged in a wide array of business activities ranging from hospitality services to manufacturing. (Read in Arabic)

USD 300 mn in savings expected from the government’s usage of Egyptian goods -EPRI
Amwal Al Ghad | 25 Feb 2015
The Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI) expects the government to register savings of around USD 300 mn. This would be the result of the government’s decision to rely on domestic goods, as per presidential decree number 5 for 2015. The EPRI says the petroleum sector has already adopted the decision, which it says will increase savings and hard currency liquidity. (Read in Arabic)

REGIONAL

Political impasse stopping Lebanon from developing its hydrocarbon resources
BBC | 24 Feb 2015
Years after the first seismic scans in the Levant Basin hinted that significant gas resources existed off Lebanon’s coast, companies are still unable to submit bids for exploration, BBC reports. Investors await two key decisions by the cabinet, one concerns the division of the Exclusive Economic Zone’s blocs given that the boundaries are disputed with Israel and the other concerns the legal relationship between the state and the companies doing the exploration. A source summed up the situation: “On the one hand, there is resistance from some political forces… on the other is the long-term concern of some regional powers.” However, officials still insist the country has a huge competitive advantage given it is connected to the Arab Gas pipeline, making it potentially easy to deliver natural gas to Europe. (Read)

KKR to plan solo bid for Americana
Bloomberg | 24 Feb 2015
KKR & Co is holding one-on-one talks to acquire Americana after CVC Capital Partners pulled out, Bloomberg reports. A potential deal with the company may be signed as early as next month anonymous sources noted. Americana’s top shareholder, Kuwait’s Kharafi family, is considering options for its stake in the company, which is valued at USD 4 bn. (Read)

ON YOUR WAY OUT

The cap on cement prices for domestic producers remained unchanged for the third month in a row, the Ministry of Supplies announced. (Read in Arabic)

BY THE NUMBERS

USD CBE auction (Wednesday, 25 Feb): 7.5301 (unchanged since Monday, 02 Feb)

USD parallel market (Wednesday, 25 Feb): 7.70 (+0.05 from Reuter’s trader’s quote from Sunday, 22 Feb)
EGX30 (Wednesday): 9,469.08 (-1.48%)
Turnover: EGP 379.4 mn (excluding special transactions of EGP 666.1 mn)

WTI: USD 50.69 (-0.59%)
Brent: USD 61.45 (-0.29%)

TASI: 9,320.3 (+0.3%)
ADX: 4,631.2 (+0.2%)
DFM: 3,870.2 (+0.8%)
KSE Weighted Index: Market closed.
QE: 12,472.0 (-0.4%)
MSM: 6,578.6 (-0.3%)