Tax rates to be fixed for 10 yrs, Salman says. Edita to offer shares on EGX + GDRs. Pioneers wins Arab Dairy. EBRD, Proparco, DEG invest in Abraaj healthcare fund. John Kerry to attend EEDC in Sharm. BG to get pay raise from gov’t.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

HSBC’s Egypt PMI will be released today at 7:30 am Cairo local time (5:30 GMT). Given the press embargo, Enterprise will pick up the results tomorrow. You can download the pdf when it drops here.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the U.S. Congress today on his concerns regarding ongoing negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. Yesterday Netanyahu addressed the Israeli lobby group AIPAC. (Watch, running time: 2 hours, 41 minutes, Netanyahu’s speech starts around the 1-hour mark) Obama attempted to preempt Netanyahu’s Congress speech with an interview with Reuters in which the U.S. president calls upon Iran to commit to a decade-long freeze on their nuclear activities. (Read)

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING THIS WEEK

02-04 March (Monday-Wednesday): EFG Hermes 11th Annual One on One Conference 2015, Atlantis The Palm, Dubai. View the official website here.

02-04 March (Monday-Wednesday):  Today marks the second of a three-day visit by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Minister of Water and Irrigation Hossam Moghazy to Khartoum for a tripartite ministerial meeting with Sudanese and Ethiopian officials. There is speculation that the ministers will announce the selection of a consulting firm to conduct an impact study of Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam, scheduled for completion in 2017. (Read)

02-06 March 2015 (Monday-Friday): African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), Cairo.

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

Amr Adeeb was AWOL last night, leaving us with sometime-co-host Rania Badawy.

تفاصيل مملة
(the boring details)

Badawy spoke at length on the Supreme Constitutional Court’s recent decision to reject the elections law and speculation over when the new amendments will be ready.

In the latter part of the program, Badawy hosted religious scholar and Azhar professor Saad El Din Hilaly. Badawy relayed viewer’s questions to the Professor Hilaly: “A viewer asks if they should turn in a close family member, such as a son or father, over to the authorities if that family member is also a member of the Ikhwan.” Professor Hilaly replied that it is a national duty to report someone to the authorities if one has foreknowledge of the suspected family member’s role in a terrorist operation, such as a bombing.

Youssef El Hosseiny on ONTV hosted steel magnate Ahmed Abou Hashima, CEO of the Egyptian Steel group. Abou Hashima spoke of the need of knowledge transfer from foreign investment in Egypt, citing successful examples from the experience of other developing nations such as India. He also advocated for limited protectionism for the manufacturing sector in Egypt under the framework of a clear economic plan to develop its activities and for a limited amount of time, also citing examples from other countries’ paths to development.

Hosseiny focused in on the possibility of Abou Hashima harboring political ambitions, despite him having not pursuing a candidacy in the upcoming (eventually) parliamentary elections. Abou Hashima replied that the Egyptian people have rejected the marriage of business and politics, at least for the foreseeable future, but asserted that the role of the private sector is important in shaping national policy. “Even ‘Caliph’ Erdogan recognized the importance of the private sector … who were responsible for Turkey’s growth in the 90s.” After pressed several times by Hosseiny, he would not rule out possibly seeking a political position, but not before 8 to 10 years time. The remainder of the discussion focused on his group’s CSR efforts to redevelop underprivileged rural areas, and called upon other businessmen and corporates to join in the efforts.

Lamees El Hadidy on CBC Egypt mainly focused on yesterday’s bombing in front of the Supreme Court in downtown Cairo, showing footage of the two victims who had been killed in the blast. El Hadidy reiterated, as she has often done, that the current wave of terrorism is aimed at sabotaging this month’s investment summit, in order to portray Egypt as unstable. She called on the police to make better usage of CCTV not only for forensics use but also to attempt to stop terrorists in the act, as she played footage which appears to show yesterday’s bomber leaving a bag in crowded street in front of the court. She also called on everyone to report any unattended bags left in public to the police.

El Hadidy hosted two guests on her program: the first was Major General Medhat Quraytam, Assistant Minister of the Interior for Specialized Police. The major spoke of the integration of new technologies in the ongoing campaign against terrorism. “We need more robots,” El Hadidy insisted.

In a segment that suffered due to being short on time but which was interesting nonetheless was the appearance in the studio by Cairo Governor Galal Saeed, who discussed the government’s plans to relocate 26,000 families residing in the informal settlement of Duweiqa, who were identified as living in structurally unsafe dwellings. El Hadidy allowed residents of Duweiqa to call in to address the governor directly. “Our work is here [in Duweiqa]. What are we going to do in October city? How will we live?” Other callers noted that whenever the government attempts to demolish homes, a year later more go up in the same spot, eventually outnumbering the original number of homes that were demolished.

SPEED ROUND

Investment Minister Ashraf Salman made news from Dubai yesterday as he participated in a keynote interview at the EFG Hermes One on One, promising the new investment law by 8-9 March, fixed tax rates for the coming 10 years, the elimination of tax incentives, repatriation of funds for all investors — and suggesting the way in which the capital gains tax calculated is being reconsidered. More in our Spotlight, right after this section.

Leading Egyptian snacks producer Edita will list up to 30 percent of its ordinary shares in a combined offering that will include a secondary offering of shares on the EGX and of GRDs on the LSE, the company announced yesterday in its Intention to Float. Shares will trade under the symbol EFID.CA, andReuters is quoting “market sources” as saying the company will look to raise c. EGP 2 bn via the offering, with trading due to start in early April. The news underscores interest in Egypt’s very promising foods sector after Kellogg’s epic takeover battle with Abraaj for Bisco Misr and the now-concluded showdown between France’s Lactalis and Egypt’s Pioneers Holding for Arab Dairy (news below). Selling parties in the transaction include vehicles of emerging markets PE firm Actis and of Greek snacks company Chipita, a co-founder of Edita. The company reported net earnings of EGP 265.9 mn last year on a top line of EGP 1.9 bn. CPI Financial quotes extensively from the ITF here. Edita is being advised by EFG Hermes and Goldman Sachs.

Pioneers Holding has beat out Lactalis in their bidding war for Arab Dairy, with a winning offer of EGP 71.11 per share versus Lactalis’ bid of EGP 71, Reuters reports. Pioneers is now going to seek 100% of Arab Dairy as it closes the EGP 257 mn transaction, having held nearly 20% heading into the fray. In addition to Lactalis (Europe’s largest dairy products company) both Denmark’s Arla Foods and Saudi’s Arrow Food Distribution had pursued Arab Dairy, best known for the hugely successful marketing campaign backing its Panda Cheese and a deep base of corporate clients including Hilton, Movenpick and InterContinental as well as mass-market restaurant brands Bon Appetit, Cook Door and La Poire. Al-Mal has a long sit-down with Pioneers this morning with background and the suggestion that Pioneers sees this as the first step of its expansion into the foods industry.

Abraaj healthcare vehicle wins investment from EBRD, development finance institutions. Apress release from the EBRD notes that it is investing in a healthcare opportunity structured by global emerging markets PE firm Abraaj. The North Africa Hospital Holdings Group (NAHHG) will aim to provide high-quality healthcare in Egypt and Tunisia, with Abraaj investing USD 145 mn in NAHHG, with USD 25 mn from EBRD, and USD 15 mn each from France’s Propcaro and Germany’s DEG. NAHHG’s networks comprises four hospitals at present, including the Cleopatra Hospital and Cairo Medical Centre in Egypt, and development and upgrade operations to all of the group’s holding are currently underway.

Remember that law we mentioned a week or so back that holds one Egyptian company can’t pay another Egyptian company in anything except EGP? Well, that’s apparently a thing. Al-Mal has dug up the offending law (126 for 2003) after the CBE dropped them a reminder that violators face penalties of EGP 10,000 to EGP 20,000. (Thank you, Atef Ebeid.) In other news from Hisham Ramez’s ongoing war against the parallel market, the CBE has announced the return of the interbank market for foreign exchangeand importers are complaining that the CBE’s move to pump USD 420 mn in FX into the economy on Sunday didn’t miraculously clear out customs and the ports in the blink of an eye, saying 20-25% of the backlog has been released, with the balance still in ports.

Egypt has rejoined EY’s Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) for the first time in two years following the introduction of the new feed-in-tariff system. Egypt fell out in May 2013 after political unrest “caused a dramatic slowdown in infrastructure investment and project activity.” China remains on top of the list and Egypt comes in at 39th. You can check out the report’s homepage hereor download the report in full (in PDF).

Arabtec shares were hit yesterday by news its 1 mn homes project in Egypt might be on hold,Bloomberg reports, with the DFM-listed company being the biggest loser on the exchange yesterday as its shares tanked 2.9%. The wire service quotes an analyst as saying: “Even though this news has been repeated several times, it has impacted the stock, but it isn’t the only reason why the Arabtec is down. The negative news was compounded with an overall negative sentiment in the market because of declining oil prices. There’s very little liquidity in the market.” As we noted yesterday, a brief mention in a longer Al-Masry Al-Youm interview suggested the project had been put on hold due to an ongoing dispute with the Egyptian government.

Re-drafting of the offending sections of the elections act is underway, Transitional Justice Minister Ibrahim Heneidy confirmed yesterday in the wake of the Supreme Constitutional Court striking down sections on electoral districts. The minister is reportedly optimistic the committee responsible can wrap its work within a month, Al-Ahram reports. (For political junkies: Ahram Online also has a look back at how four parliaments in 30 years have run into problems with unconstitutional electoral laws.)

Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat ordered the release of 120 prisoners in temporary detention pending trial, but as of now no names have been released. Lists submitted for consideration including names of young activists arrested during protests do not seem to be included in the release. (Read)

Mohamed El Erian backs Egyptian government’s economic plan: Leading economist Mohamed El Erian endorsed the Sisi administration’s economic reform policies. Speaking at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s Global Financial Markets Forum in Abu Dhabi, El Erian stated that the government’s plan contains procedures that, if executed, could solve many of the longstanding problems facing the country. That said, El Erian conceded that executing the plan, which entails measures such as subsidy cuts, could prove challenging. If, however, the government succeeds, the economy could achieve annual growth rates of over 7% percent within the next three years. (Read in Arabic)

Egypt gearing up for major attack on militants in Libya –Washington Times: Right-wing newspaper The Washington Times cites an unnamed “senior U.S. official” as saying that Egypt is preparing for a second round of air strikes against terrorist targets in Libya. For now, the story should be treated with a degree of skepticism, but it’s definitely not outside the realm of possibility.

60 countries committed to participating in the Egyptian Economic Development Conference in Sharm, Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirms attendance of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry: Delegates from over 60 countries are expected to attend this month’s investment summit in Sharm El Sheikh from 13-15 March, according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ambassador Badr Abdel Atti. As David Ignatius casually dropped in his Washington Post op-ed advocating for support of Egypt, and as we noted on Sunday, Abdel Atti has now confirmed that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend, as will Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergi Lavrov. (Read)

Two people were killed and nine wounded, including seven policemen, in an explosion yesterday outside the supreme court in downtown Cairo, according to figures released by the health ministry as reported by the AFP. One man was in critical condition with a catastrophic head injury. Overnight came news of a bomb attack on police in Zahraa El-Maadi (conflicting reports of whether it was at a police checkpoint or police station), while there were reports on Twitter of two additional bomb blasts targeting security forces, one in Heliopolis and one in Tagammou.

Héctor Cúper, who formerly played as a defender for Argentina and acted as its manager will now manage the Egyptian national team, according to an announcement by the Egypt Football Association yesterday. (Read in Arabic)

M2 money supply up 16.4% y-o-y in January: M2 money supply stood at EGP 1.6276 tn at the end of January 2015, compared to EGP 1.3983 tn at the end of January 2014, according to the Central Bank of Egypt. (Read)

Mada Masr compiled a timeline of the major events relating to natural gas production in Egypt starting from BG declaring its force majeure in January 2014 onwards until the government’s drive to liberalize the sector in February.

Ex-Chief of BP named chairman of Russian oligarch’s oil & gas group: John Browne, former CEO of BP, was named executive chairman of Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman’s L1 energy fund of LetterOne Group. The NYT notes that Browne plans to use L1 to buy up oil and gas assets on the cheap, taking advantage of L1’s cash and the falling price of oil. The announcement comes on the heels of the UK attempting to block L1’s acquisition of RWE’s North Sea assets. “The U.K. is divorcing itself from a number of linkages with and penetrations from Russian entities,” according to James Nixey, a Russia analyst at Chatham House. “To enter into deals and promote trade and transactions is contrary to U.K. government announcements on not doing ‘business as usual’ with Russia.” (Read)

General Khalifa Haftar named Libya army chief: Libya’s internationally-recognized parliament based in Tobruk have promoted General Haftar to the rank of Lieutenant General and have named him as commander-in-chief of the Libyan army. (Read)

Qatar, whose cultural and historical achievements can fit onto a post-it note, will field a candidate to head UNESCO, according to Gulf News quoting Arabic daily Al Sharq. (Read)

Boko Haram have released a video purportedly showing the beheading of two men they accused of being spies. Right-wing news outlet Fox News cites a terrorism analyst as saying that the video suggests that the ties to Boko Haram and Daesh are deepening, and that the video also suggests that Daesh had input into its production. The U.S.’ state-owned publication Voice of America, however, tried to downplay any such strengthening of relations between the two terror groups.

40 Algerian police wounded in anti-shale gas protest: In the latest development in a story we’ve been following for some time, over 40 police officers in the Algerian Sahara town of In Salah were injured in clashes with protesters demonstrating against shale gas extraction. Protesters set fire to local government offices, the residence of the district chief, a police dormitory and a police truck, according to the AFP’s report. Algeria has the world’s fourth-largest recoverable reserves of shale gas. (Read)

‘Bulls take charge on Wall Street,’ trumpets the FT as the Nasdaq broke the 5,000 barrier for the first time since the dotcom meltdown of 2000. The WSJ has more, noting the close as “another milestone in the revival of an index that once was synonymous with dot-com excess but now reflects a broad swath of global technology, consumer, health-care and financial firms.”

SPOTLIGHT ON EFG HERMES ONE-ON-ONE

Highlights from Investment Minister Ashraf Salman’s keynote interview with EFG Hermes’ Simon Kitchen:

• On tax policy: The government is working on putting together a clear tax strategy with fixed taxation for a 10-year period rather than providing a system of tax incentives to lure new investors.
• Capital gains tax: “I won’t personally defend the capital gains tax, because I don’t like it. We are working with the Ministry of Finance to come up with a workable solution that doesn’t require 6% deduction upfront.” Timeline for an announcement: About two weeks.
• New investment law should be public between 8-9 March;
• The right to repatriate funds, including principal, interest, dividends, capital gains, will be codified for all investors under the new investment law
• USD 1.5 bn sovereign bond to launch in June, with a possible second offering in September
• “We are well aware that its not just about attracting higher levels of FDI, which will take time — it’s about creating the right investment environment.”
• On the reform process: “What makes the reforms different this time around is the fact that the Egyptian people are firmly behind the process in a way that has never happened before. They are willing to face up to the challenges, as we have seen with their support of the removal of petroleum subsidies and their backing of the New Suez Canal by fully subscribing to certificates worth more than EGP 60 bn in just eight days.”
• Don’t focus exclusively on the investment law, but rather the full basket of pro-growth legislation including laws on labor, energy, mining and microfinance.
• Egypt owes a deep debt to the UAE, Saudi and Kuwait, which have together provided political support of the Sisi administration and some USD 23 bn in aid, deposits and oil shipments in the past 18 months.

FDI to double this fiscal year to USD 8 bn; Egypt received USD 23 bn in aid from the Gulf in the past 18 months -Investment Minister Salman: Egypt expects FDI in FY2015 / 2016 to double to more than USD 8 bn, according to Investment Minister Ashraf Salman speaking at EFG Hermes’ One-on-One Conference in Dubai yesterday, as quoted by Reuters. Salman noted that the country sees as likely a significant participation by Gulf allies in this month’s investment summit in Sharm El Sheikh, noting that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have contributed a combined USD 23 bn in aid over the past 18 months in the form of cash and fuel. (Read)

Capital gains tax on foreigners’ EGX holdings being reconsidered –Salman: The current application of the capital gains tax on foreigners’ holdings on the EGX is being reconsidered, according to Minister of Investment, Ashraf Salman. He called the current application “unreasonable” as the tax is being applied before the final settlement of transactions. A new system is expected to be presented within the next two weeks. Al Shorouk reports that the government is seeking to set fixed tax policies for the next ten years. (Read in Arabic and here)

Al-Ahram ran Salman’s interview and other commentary from the conference in the number-three slot on its digital homepage at time of dispatch.

Al Borsa expands on yesterday’s news that EFG Hermes is looking to increase its investments in renewables in Egypt. A renewable energy-focused USD 100 mn fund will be established within the next 18 months and will target minority stakes in about 40 energy producers, according to Karim Moussa, the head of private equity at EFG.

WORTH READING

EFG Hermes Head of Research conducts Q&A with Stratfor’s Friedman: The first day of the EFG Hermes One-on-One Conference in Dubai witnessed a Q&A session between EFG Hermes Head of Research Wael Ziada and George Friedman, Founder and Chairman of Stratfor, a premier global intelligence firm. Readers may recognize the titles of some of his bestsellers The Next 100 Years and The Next Decade. His most recent title, Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe, was published on 27 January. Friedman holds a PhD from Cornell in government and has spent 20 years as a political scientist, and is a highly-sought after public speaker.

Regarding the Q&A session at the EFG Hermes Conference, Ziada asked Friedman on the context for the falling price of oil, OPEC, the “Arab spring,” and the United States’ focus and perspective on the Middle East region in general and Egypt in particular. When asked for his future predictions for the region, Friedman said, “the disengagement of the United States from this region will be one of the most important elements. That disengagement won’t be [complete], but it will be significant … North Africa is perhaps more interesting, and that’s the question of Egypt. Egypt has withstood the test of recent years and proven its resilience because the army stood united.” (Read)

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

“Foreign Office accused of cover-up about trade mission to Sisi’s Egypt”: The UK’s Independent has a sensationalist headline to go with its article about the UK Foreign Office “stalling” to reveal the list of companies who participated in last month’s trade delegation in Egypt: “Campaign group Reprieve said the Government’s determination to push trade with Egypt was distracting attention from widespread abuses being carried out in the country, which include the continued detention of Ibrahim Halawa, an Irish teenager who faces the death sentence for attending a protest in Cairo two years ago. Middle East minister Tobias Ellwood has said Britain is committed to boosting international investment in Egypt as well as increasing bilateral trade …” (Read)

Ellwood, who had led the aforementioned trade delegation, expressed on Sunday his concern that there has not been a “full parliament” in Egypt for two and a half years. (Read)

Erdoğan says Morsi must be freed before any possible Turkish-Egyptian reconciliation: Erdogan had let slip a few days without voicing his obsession with Egypt. Asked ahead of his trip to Saudi on the possibility of reconciliation with Egypt, Erdogan replied: “Does the EU or the U.S. remain deaf to the situation between Russia and Ukraine, or the situation in Libya? We do not interfere in Egypt’s internal affairs. We have democratic demands. All political prisoners, especially including [Mohammed] Morsi, must be released. The right of conducting politics should also be given to those [imprisoned] people.” In response to a question as to whether he would be willing to meet with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, he replied “Are you joking? … For such a thing to happen, serious positive steps need to be taken first.” (Read)

The foreign press have picked up on a story that originally ran in Youm7 this past weekend regarding the arrest of, well we’re going to have to word this carefully so it doesn’t trip up email filters- ‘gentlemen who dress in clothes of the opposite gender.’ Trying to out-Islamist the Islamists will be forever pointless, especially considering that the Islamists want a lot of people dead. These types of arrests are not going to convince them otherwise. And if the gen. pop. is the targeted audience, well, not to insult the nation, but history seems to show that the brains of Egyptians are, malleable.

ENERGY, RENEWABLE ENERGY & SUBSIDY REFORM

Finance minister denies setting a date for fuel price increases
Amwal Al Ghad | 01 March 2015
Hany Dimian, the Minister of Finance denied reports circulated yesterday that fuel price increases will be imposed before the end of the current fiscal year. The reports are unofficial, Dimian says, and thus should not be relied upon. He added that the drive to reform fuel subsidies do not just include price changes, but also other factors that control supply factors and shield the neediest sectors from the negative effects of the policy. (Read in Arabic)

SkyPower officials meet with Mahlab on Monday
Al Iqtisady Al Araby | 02 March 2015
Egypt’s Prime Minister, Ibrahim Mahlab, met with representatives from SkyPower, a global solar power developer on Monday in Cairo. Also in attendance were the Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Canada’s ambassador to Egypt. In their meeting, SkyPower representatives explained to the government officials their plans to  establish several large-scale solar energy projects worth a total of EGP 5 bn throughout the republic. Included in these plans, is a proposed solar panel manufacturing plant, which according to SkyPower representatives, should accelerate the development of Egypt’s nascent solar energy sector. (Read in Arabic)

Tiba Manzalawi Group to build 50 MW solar power station
Al Borsa | 02 March 2015
The Tiba Manzalawi Group is planning on building a 50 MW solar power station, and set a one year deadline for the project. The power station is expected to cost EGP 600 mn and will be located at the Tenth of Ramadan City. Tiba Manzalawi said that the project will be executed by a consortium that includes five other companies. (Read in Arabic)

OIL & GAS

Egypt close to paying more for BG Group-produced gas, expects LNG deals with Shell and Total in new bid round
Reuters | 02 March
Egypt is close to paying BG Group more for the gas it produces offshore, and expects to sign LNG import deals with Shell and Total, according to Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail on Monday, as reported by Reuters. “It is not clear yet if we will open a bid round or whether we will pursue direct negotiations,” he said. (Read)

ASORC targets refining 4.1 mn tons in FY2015/16
Al Mal | 02 March 2015
The Assiut Oil Refining Company (ASORC) is aiming to maintain its output levels constant in FY2015/16 at 4.1 mn tons. The refinery capacity was increased to 4.5 mn tons from 4.2 mn, but by the end of the fiscal year, the company aims to have refined 4.15 mn tons of crude. ASORC covers 75-80% of Upper Egypt’s cities’ demand for refined oil products. (Read in Arabic)

BASIC MATERIALS & COMMODITIES

Supplies ministry coordinating with CBE to facilitate food imports
Al Borsa | 02 March 2015
The Minister of Supplies is currently coordinating with the CBE to simplify the administrative procedures and financial requirements to allow for an easier process to import food products. The drive, announced by the supplies minister, aims to ensure a steady supply of food on the market and preserve the trust between the importers and their suppliers abroad. (Read in Arabic)

Egypt purchases 110,000 tons of wheat from Russia and Ukraine
Reuters Arabic | 02 March 2015
The Egyptian government’s General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) agreed to  purchase 110,000 tons of Ukrainian and Russian wheat on Monday. According to Mahmoud Abdelfattah, GASC’s vice president, the average price of the Russian wheat was approximately EGP 1970 per ton. The price of Ukrainian wheat was slightly lower at EGP 1940 per ton.  (Read in Arabic)

HEALTHCARE

Alameda Healthcare to open a new hospital in Qattamiya in 2016
Al Borsa | 02 March 2015
Alameda Healthcare, the owner of As-Salam Hospital, are opening a new 140-bed hospital in Qattamiya. The hospital is expected to begin operations in 2016. Alameda is also expanding its As-Salam Hospital to increase capacity there to 360 beds from 191 at present with the aim to be able to serve 400 thousand patients annually from around 250 thousand now. (Read in Arabic)

Julphar to market three new drugs in Egypt
Al Borsa | 02 March 2015
The UAE’s pharmaceuticals producer, Julphar, is mulling adding three new drugs to the line-up it currently markets in Egypt. At present, Julphar sells 15 different drugs in Egypt produced at its UAE plants. The company is in process of producing a new hepatitis-C drug, which is expected to be part of the three new drugs sold in Egypt. (Read in Arabic)

TELECOMS

Minister of Communications meets with member of the ITU
Al Iqtisady Al Araby| 2 March 2015
Atef Helmy, Egypt’s Minister of Telecommunication, announced on Monday that his meeting with representatives from the International Telecommunications Union was fruitful. According to the minister, ITU has agreed to conduct workshops in Egypt aimed at improving the country’s human capital and telecommunications infrastructure. Recently, ITU released report stating that Egypt’s Telecommunications sector could be worth USD 43 bn by 2030. (Read in Arabic)

TE to continue plan to replace traditional cables with fiber-optic lines
Al Borsa | 02 March 2015
Telecom Egypt (TE) announced that it will continue with its plans to replace the copper phone lines with fiber-optic lines this month. The replacement plan will resume across different cities as TE aims to improve the service quality. By the end of this year, TE hopes that 4 mn customers will be connected through fiber-optic lines, up from two mn at present. (Read in Arabic)

BANKING & FINANCE

CBE begins assessing offers for Citibank’s retail business in Egypt
Al Borsa | 01-02 March 2015
The CBE announced it is beginning to assess offers present to acquire Citibank’s retail business in Egypt. Mashreq, Emirates NBD, CIB, HSBC, ADIB, and Audi have submitted offers that are currently being assessed by the CBE in a process that could take from three to six months. National Bank of Abu Dhabi denied its interest in Citibank’s business and says it is planning on growing organically. Citibank’s retail portfolio in Egypt contains 600 thousand clients worth EGP 1.7 bn with 75 thousand credit cards. (Read in Arabic andhere)

CIB acquires Smart Village property
Al Mal | 02 March 2015
CIB has purchased the Smart Village headquarters of Mena for Touristic and Real Estate Development. The deal cost CIB EGP 47 mn and follows Mena recording a net loss of EGP 2.8 mn in the first nine months of 2014. (Read in Arabic)

OTHER BUSINESS NEWS OF NOTE

Italy’s export credit agency offered to finance the fifth and sixth metro lines –transport ministry
Al Borsa | 01 March 2015
Italy’s export credit agency, Servizi Assicurativi del Commercio Estero (SACE), has offered to finance the construction of Cairo’s fifth and sixth metro lines, according to the transport ministry. The offer also includes funding to other infrastructure projects for the Egyptian railways authority. (Read in Arabic)

Completing the Cairo-Alexandria highway to cost EGP 1.465 bn
Al Borsa | 01 March 2015
The General Authority for Roads, Bridges, and Land Transport said that completing to Cairo-Alexandria highway is going to cost EGP 1.465 bn, up from the EGP 800 mn allocated by the finance ministry. Khaled Al Geyoushi, the head of the authority, said the finance ministry will allocate EGP 400 mn extra in the upcoming few days. In addition, the authority itself will increase its budgeted expenses by EGP 200 mn in order to meet the increased costs. (Read in Arabic)

EGYPT POLITICS + ECONOMICS

ECA to increase penalties on monopolistic activities, adds fine if M&As are not reported
Al Masry Al Youm | 02 March 2015
The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) announced it is changing how penalties for monopolistic activities are calculated. Instead of lump sum amounts, the penalties will have a set proportional value of 2-12% of all product sales proceeds in case of collusion cases and 1-10% in other cases. The ECA also announced a new EGP 500k fine if mergers and acquisitions are not reported to the ECA within 30 days of completion. (Read in Arabic and here)

Fakhry and Beecroft discuss expanding QIZ in Upper Egypt
Al Borsa | 02 March 2015
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mounir Fakhry, and the US Ambassador to Cairo, R. Stephen Beecroft, met to discuss expanding the QIZ agreement in Egypt. The two sides discussed included more areas in Upper Egypt as part of the agreement to allow them to introduce new projects and increase exports. Producers are hoping the QIZ agreement could be increased to include plastics and food products. (Read in Arabic)

600 feddans allocated for proposed freezone between Egypt and Sudan
Al Borsa | 02 March 2015
The armed forces allocated two 300 feddan lots to the transport ministry’s land port authority to create a freezone between Egypt and Sudan. Two land ports will be established in Arqin and Qastal. An unnamed Belgian consultancy house was commissioned to prepare the plans for the zone. The land port at Arqin is expected to be completed by the end of June at a total cost of EGP 85 mn. (Read in Arabic)

60 countries to take part in the investment summit
Aswat Masriya | 02 March 2015
According to the official spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Badr Abd Elatty, government representatives from 60 countries are set to take part in this month’s investment summit, including officials from the United States and Russia. Moreover, China’s Minister of Commerce, Gao Hucheng, will be heading his country’s delegation at the conference, underscoring the strengthening economic ties between the nations. Lastly, members from the European Union have expressed their intentions to attend the summit. (Read in Arabic)

CAPMAS: 6.5 mn women member of the labor force
Al Hadas News | 02 March 2015
According to statistics provided by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the number of women comprising Egypt’s labor force rose from 5.5 mn in 2008 to 6.5 mn in 2013. That said, over this same period, unemployment amongst female laborers rose from 19.3% in 2008 to 24.4% in 2008. Interestingly, in spite of the rise in unemployment amongst females, the percentage of women in Egypt’s labor force increased by 1.5% in the period spanning 2008 to 2014. (Read in Arabic)

BY THE NUMBERS

USD CBE auction (Monday, 02 March): 7.5301 (unchanged since Monday, 02 Feb)
USD parallel market (Monday, 02 March): 7.65 (-0.03 from Sunday, 01 March)

EGX30 (Monday): 9,456.33 (+1.86%)
Turnover: EGP 492.2 mn (23% below the 90-day average)

WTI: USD 49.83 (+0.48%)
Brent: USD 60.10 (+0.94%)

TASI: 9,389.4 (+0.4%)
ADX: 4,668.7 (-0.4%)
DFM: 3,788.9 (-1.0%)
KSE Weighted Index: 452.7 (+0.1%)
QE: 12,450.3 (flat, +0.04%)
MSM: 6,569.6 (-0.2%)