Morsi death sentence could be confirmed today. Eni inks USD 2 bn exploration deal. Emaar Misr IPO may be priced at discount. PHD confirms 3 deals worth EGP 481 mn. EFSA approves next-day settlement. Bakers of subsidized bread threaten strike.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

The Mufti is expected to issue his advisory opinion today regarding the preliminary death sentence against former president Mohamed Morsi for his role in the Wadi Natroun prison break of 2011. In his summary of the varying accounts of how Morsi reached his current predicament, Patrick Kingsley of The Guardian points out the incontrovertible fact: “On the same day [26 July, 2013, although the article has a typo suggesting the date was 26 June of the same year], prosecutors brought the first formal allegations against Morsi, accusing him of escaping from prison in 2011 — an allegation that prosecutors seemed happy to overlook when he ran for president, but which now may have him executed.”

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi begins a state visit to Germany today, a day earlier than previous media reports had indicated, Al-Ahram reports. El Sisi is due to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as President Joachim Gauck and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The SPE Oil and Gas Fields with Challenging Economics conference begins today at 9:00am CLT at the JW Marriott, Cairo, and runs until Wednesday.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING THIS WEEK

The HSBC / Markit Economics PMIs for Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia will drop at 7:30am CLT on Wednesday, 03 June. The files will be available here in pdf at the appointed hour.

Alexandria Criminal Court will hold its first hearing tomorrow into an EGP 5 bn lawsuit filed by the family of Khaled Said (yes, that’s bn, not mn). The suit, which hit newspapers yesterday, seeks damages and compensation for the murder of Said, who was beaten to death by police in 2010. His murder is widely seen as one of the sparks that eventually led to the 25 January 2011 uprising.

6th OPEC International Seminar is due to take place in Vienna, Wednesday-Thursday (3-4 June).

Emaar Misr will announce the final pricing on its June IPO on Thursday, according to media reports. (More below in the Speed Round.)

The defense will make its closing arguments in the retrial of former Al Jazeera English journalists Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste on Thursday, following the prosecution’s closing arguments yesterday. The prosecution argued that the journalists had doctored video to add the sound of non-existent gunfire during a protest.

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

In what was by far the best quote of the night (perhaps even the week) Amr Adeeb said, “The sheep have decided to drive cars and bleat in protest of President Al Sisi’s visit to Berlin.” Both Adeeb and co-host Rania Badawi were in a state of utter disbelief as they watched video of a large parade of slow-moving vehicles in Berlin with drivers waving yellow Rab3a flags and honking horns in a typically Egyptian fashion.

“I know that Germany is home to the largest number of ikhwanis outside Egypt, but this is both troublesome and completely bizarre. How can this be allowed in Germany? They are not only disturbing the peace, they are obstructing traffic,” said Badawi. “Under normal circumstances any motorist honking their horn like this would immediately be given a huge fine, and yet the police here seem to be okay with what’s going on. This can’t be Europe, much less Germany.”

“You know I don’t really care about the sheep anymore, they stopped bothering me long ago, but I am bothered by this because they are making all Egyptians look bad,” said Adeeb. “The west is not the west anymore, I see that they are gradually moving towards eastern habits and behavior.

[Also protesting during El Sisi’s visit to Berlin: Reporters Without Borders, who will demonstrate in support of imprisoned journalists.]

“I would love to attend the meeting between El Sisi and [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel. This woman is tough and she can barely stand us. I think there are precisely four reasons why she is meeting with our president: the Siemens contract, the fact that this government genuinely cares about protecting the rights of the Coptic community, our position on Libya, and last but not least, the personality of our president himself. Like him or dislike him, he is a very engaging figure. Meetings between the president and other heads of state tend to last for much longer than planned,” Adeeb continued.

The new Vanity Fair cover of Caitlyn a.k.a. Bruce Jenner did not go unnoticed by Egypt’s talk shows.

Adeeb explained to his viewers that, “This beauty is the stepfather of Kim Kardashian. I bring this up because I wanted you to know how technologically advanced medicine in the west has become. The doctor who did this is a genius. He created a woman who is more beautiful than many women that we know. I don’t support this kind of thing, but I’m impressed with the technology.

Added Badawi: “I’m against the [redacted] movement, but there is a difference between transforming for fun and cases where [redacted] change operations are medically required. Bruce Jenner has transformed for fun, not because he has any particular disease.”

(VF’s Behind the Scenes is here; the magazine has also issued a press release on the cover subject; the profile piece itself is behind a paywall. The New York Times and the Guardian are covering the story).

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SPEED ROUND

Eni has signed a USD 2 bn exploration deal with the Oil Ministry. The deal entails four years of exploration activities in the Sinai and Nile Delta regions, worth USD 1.5 bn. On top of that, USD 360 mn will be invested in digging five new wells in northern Port Said, USD 80 mn will be spent in Sinai on both well repairs and the drilling of a new well, and USD 40 mn will be pumped into the Gulf of Suez. The agreement includes USD 515 mn as a signature bonus that would repay partly some of Egypt’s debts to Eni. “The deal paves the way for the modification of some previous deals between the ministry and Eni that include gas price adjustments,” Reuters reported. Eni signed an MoU for USD 5 bn in projects at the EEDC earlier this year.

CONFIRMED: Emaar Misr will offer 14.9% of its shares in an IPO on the EGX between 16-25 June,Reuters reported. The shares will be priced at EGP 4.49 per and the offer is set to raise c. EGP 2.69 bn, making it among the larger offerings on the EGX in recent years. The National, however, quotes the customary “banking source close to the deal” as saying the final offer price will likely come in below EGP 4.49 “to give ‘a discount to fair value to encourage investors.’” The final pricing of the issue is expected to be announced on Thursday. Emaar Misr management will hit the road on Thursday to support the IPO, with planned stops in the U.S., U.K., U.A.E. and South Africa. The reports confirm news we covered yesterday in Al-Borsa (which relied on unnamed sources) and Amwal Al-Ghad (mentioned in passing in a wider interview with EGX chief Mohamed Omran).

Palm Hills announced the completion of three deal worth a total of EGP 481 mn, according toReuters. The newswire reported that Palm Hills “had reached two land sale agreements and one land purchase agreement.” The deals were made to increase cash flow and come as part of a strategy to exit untapped investments and unutilized sites.

Siemens announced the completion of the fast-track supply and delivery of four E-Class turbines to Egypt’s Attaka Power Plant, according to a press release. The power plant, which is operated by East Delta Electricity Production Company (EDEPC), has an installed generating capacity of 640 MW. In related news, PM Mahlab officially inaugurated phase one of the Assiut power plant that was completed by Orascom Construction last week, as reported by Al Mal.

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EFSA approved next-day settlement for stocks traded on the EGX, according to Al Mal. EFSA’s Chairman Sherif Samy said the existing T+2 settlement system will remain in place, with the adoption of next day settlement being optional. He added that the changes will benefit trading on the market as a whole.

Reducing the price of ADSL will drive down the prices mobile operators charge for internet service, CIT Minister Khaled Negm said. In related news, Al Shorouk said it obtained the list of prices charged by Telecom Egypt for the usage of its internet infrastructure.

Bakers of subsidized bread announced their intentions to stage a strike beginning Thursday if their demands are not met, Al Borsa reported. The demands, which have been conveyed to the Supplies Ministry, include calls to remove all “unlawful” penalties imposed on them, find solutions to the technical problems with the new automated bread distribution system, and revising the government’s points system for bread sales.

MOVES- Kuwait’s Al Kharafi Group appointed Fawzi Al Kharafi as Chairman to replace Jassim Al Kharafi, who passed away in May.

Apache Corporation announced organizational restructuring of its operations globally, creating three new super regions. “In North America, the company is merging resources into two super regions: the Permian Region and the Houston Region. Apache’s Egypt Region, North Sea Region and Gulf of Mexico Region will form the International and Offshore Region,” the company statement noted. Thomas M. Maher will continue to oversee the company’s operations in Egypt as the region vice president from Cairo.

N-Gage Consulting is following up on its pre-EEDC report with a discussion of post-conference developments on the legislative and project development fronts. Still pending are key pieces including:

• a law to (de)regulate the electricity market
• the executive regulations of the investment law
• VAT and customs laws
• the electoral redistricting in preparation for the parliamentary elections.

N-Gage also notes that the business community awaits the legal frameworks for the Suez Canal development project (SCZone) and the new administrative Capital (which hopefully is not still called The Capital Cairo). You can read the report in full here in pdf.

Egypt gains momentum in ICT outsourcing: Oxford Business Group has published a note on the attractiveness of the offshore outsourcing sector in Egypt, coming on the heels of news last month of 6,000 new jobs being created in the sector from contracts signed with Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA). While acknowledging that Egypt dropped from fourth to tenth place on AT Kearney’s 2014 Global Services Location Index, Egypt still leads the region and is expected to bounce back. “Once the country’s political situation stabilizes and investors consider it to be a safe destination, we expect Egypt to return as one of the leading locations for both IT and BPO services,” according to AT Kearney, as noted by OBG. (Read)

Switch to direct deposit for state employees running behind schedule: The company charged with arranging electronic salary transfers for all state employees will fall short of its 31 July target to fully automate payroll for the majority of state employees. E-Finance says it has set up e-payment for 1.7 mn employees of the 4.5 mn it had originally targeted by that date; the company’s Haitham Tarabik says E-Finance hopes to have 5.5 mn state employees on the e-transfer system by year’s end. (Read in Arabic)

The legislative division of the State Council has approved an amendment to the Constitutional Court Law. This change would free the Constitutional Court from a deadline to decide on appeals and disputes to parliamentary electorate results. The amended law will cancel the constitutional decree issued by former president Adly Mansour, which placed a deadline of before the election date to resolve electoral appeals and disputes as a means to avoid dissolution of parliament. (Read in Arabic)

32 small political parties have formed a unified electoral list for the upcoming parliamentary elections, heeding President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s call for political parties to form a ‘unified coalition,’ said Ahmed El-Fadali, the leader of the Independence Current political coalition. The parties taking part in the Independence Current’s list include the Tagamoa Party, the Egyptian Arab Socialist Party, Masr El-Fatah, El-Reyada, Ahrar El-Thawra, El-Masry El-Qawmy, the New Independents Party, Social Peace and others, Al-Ahram reports. Other political parties are complaining that the president’s intervention will result in a less competitive electoral contest and a parliament that fails to include multiple viewpoints on the issue of the day, reports Ahram Online‘s Gamal Essam El Din.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Current coalition is set to disclose a petition calling on the Supreme Constitutional Court to look into a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the protest law on Tuesday. According to Al Ahram, the petition has garnered over 250 signatures from activists, politicians, and other public figures.

The Interior Ministry says it uncovered an Ikhwan plot to destabilize the country prior to the potential confirmation today of a death sentence against former President Mohamed Morsi. A cell allegedly planned to spread false information with the aim of “shaking trust in state institutions.” Reuters and Al-Malhave more. Leading Ikhwan members Mahmoud Ghozlan and Abdel Rahman El Ber were apprehended at an apartment in 6th of October City on Monday evening, according to an announcement by security forces. Ghezlan and El Ber, according to police, were frequently seen entering the apartment, where authorities allege they met with other members of Ikhwan to plan and organize demonstrations and discuss the political situation in the country, Youm7 reports. Meanwhile, Freedom and Justice party member Amir Bassam wrote an article in Ikhwan media outlet Misr Alaan, where he said “The boys [youth members] have improved, and their specific operations, either as fair retribution or directly against the coup, are becoming more accurate, so that no harm is done to the innocent,” adding that a large number of their supporters believe in “specific operations and fair retribution, that is acknowledged by religion and tradition.” (Read in Egypt Independent)

The head of the Egypt-Korea Business Council floated the idea of creating a Korean industrial zone in Egypt, Al Ahram reported.

Youtube has launched Aflam, a channel featuring high-resolution Egyptian cinema classics.

Don’t believe the hype: A widely circulated piece on Medium claimed that if you type in “Google” into Google.com.eg using an Egyptian IP address, the number one organic search result you’d get is for a local HVAC technician. While the piece provides screenshots of this result, when we tried this ourselves the top result was *drumroll* Google.

Can USD 150 bn save the world? A 10-year investment in a “Global Apollo” project similar to the one that put a man on the Moon could save our planet, a group of scientists and economists said yesterday. Among the participants are senior leaders of the global oil industry, including former BP CEO John Browne. Their goal: To make clean energy cheaper than coal and other fossil fuels by funding research into renewables, power storage and smart-grid technologies. The program, which already counts members from the United States and the UAE, among others, is set to go public with its membership roll this fall. Bloomberg and theBBC both have more.

***
A MESSAGE FROM PHAROS HOLDING

Mohamed Taymour on taxes, life post-EEDC and the impact of mega-projects

During an interview with economic news platform Worldfolio, Pharos Holding’s Chairman Dr. Mohamed Taymour said he is optimistic about the Egyptian economy’s future, identifying the coming years as ones with great potential for recovery and growth across all business sectors. He cited several reasons behind his confidence—mainly his faith in the current government’s competence and its increased cooperation with the private sector in an effort to implement plans and projects designed to push Egypt forward.

As the Chairman of one of Egypt’s largest investment banks, Dr. Taymour is also aware of the challenges facing the country. He added that following the success of Egypt’s Economic Development Conference in March 2015, there needs to be a shift in focus to streamlining and implementation, noting that a lack of legislative reforms and an improved business environment could potentially deter investors. Read the full interview click here.
***

DIPLOMACY

President El Sisi met with the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir on Sunday, according to an emailed statement from Ittihadiya. The statement emphasized that the two states are aligned in their views on Syria, in addition to other regional crises such as Yemen and Libya. The statement reads: “The two sides’ visions were aligned regarding the importance of reaching political settlements to the crises in these countries that will put an end to the bloodshed and restore their security, territorial integrity as well as preserve their national institutions.”

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will attend an entrepreneur summit during his state visit to Germany, Al-Masry Al-Youm quotes Trade and Industry Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour as saying. Some 300 German and 100 Egyptian business leaders are set to participate.

Agriculture Minister Salah Helal said he is travelling to Somalia during 13-16 June 2015 to finalize agreements on agriculture and livestock, according to Al Mal.

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

Egyptian historian Maged Farag was interviewed on Mehwar TV on 28 May, calling for full normalization with Israel for the sake of national interests. The story was picked up by Arutz Sheva and segments of the interview have been translated by MEMRI TV. (Watch in Arabic with English subtitles, running time: 9:51)

CFR’s Steven A. Cook rolls out of bed to answer the question “Is Egypt Stable?“ with the answer: “Maybe, maybe not.” This is what he gets paid for, ladies and gentlemen. A nearly unquestioned platform due to the inherently small pool of Egypt analysts, coupled with zero accountability when wrong and no real impetus to make an argument. That is not to say that an analyst can or should attempt to be a fortune teller, but this is just lazy.

<RANT>Egypt sentenced me to death. The U.S. is ‘concerned,’ but that’s not enough, writes Emad Shahin in The Conversation, with pickups in The Washington Post and the UK’s The Independent. It’s a viewpoint with which at least one of us is taking issue this morning — read more here.</RANT>

ENERGY, RENEWABLE ENERGY & SUBSIDY REFORM

2.7 mn fuel smart cards issued in May
Al Borsa, Al Mal | 01 June 2015
5.2 mn fuel smart cards have been printed, of which 2.7 mn were distributed in May throughout most governorates in Egypt, said Yasser Izzat, project manager of e-finance—the company responsible for the smart cards project. He added that the remaining governorates including Sohag, the Red Sea, North and South Sinai, will receive their fuel smart cards before the 10 June deadline as per an agreement between the company and the governorates. (Read in Arabic in Al Borsa and Al Mal)

Aswan solar power station to launch in October 2016
Al Mal | 01 June 2015
TAQA Arabia chairman Khaled Abu Bakr announced that the company is conducting a three-month technical study to establish its first solar power plant in Aswan producing 50 MW, adding that the plant is expected to go on line in October 2016. He went on to state that the NREA has allocated land for 30 upcoming projects in which the company is planning to engage. (Read in Arabic)

OIL & GAS

Petroleum exports down 38% y-o-y in March, imports up 94.7%
Al Mal | 01 June 2015
Petroleum product exports decreased by 38% y-o-y to EGP 2.216 bn in March, CAPMAS reported. On a monthly basis, the exports increased by 10.8% compared to February. Petroleum imports, on the other hand, increased by 94.7% y-o-y to EGP 7.820 bn in March. The report also added that oil and gas production fell by 2.1% y-o-y to 6.075 mn tonnes during the same period with natural gas production falling by 7.6% y-o-y. (Read in Arabic)

Circle Oil hit by lower oil prices, revenues down despite robust production in Egypt
Proactive Investors | 01 June 2015
Circle Oil’s operating profits before write-offs and impairments fell 28% y-o-y to USD 23.3 mn in 2014 due to lower oil prices. The company’s oil and gas revenues fell 9% y-o-y despite “robust production” in Egypt and Morocco, which partially insulated Circle from the energy price drop. Circle Oil will drill three new production wells in Egypt in 2015 that will minimize the decline in production rates, the company said. Circle Oil’s gross production in Egypt in 2014 was 10,026 bpd and 10.6 mcf per day. (Read)

BASIC MATERIALS & COMMODITIES

Egypt buys five mn tonnes of local wheat, exceeds target
Reuters | 31 May 2015
Egypt bought five mn tonnes of locally grown wheat, the Supplies Ministry said. This exceeded the ministry’s target of 3.7 mn tonnes as the purchase price offered by farmers were attractive, Minister Khaled Hanafy said. Egypt paid EGP 420 per ardeb of wheat this year. (Read)

Contradictory statements from industry federation over executive regulations of Mineral Resources Law
Al Borsa | 01 June 2015
Disagreements have arisen within the Federation of Egyptian Industries over the executive regulations of the Mineral Resources Law. Tamer Abu Bakr, who heads the Petroleum Division of the FDI had announced on Sunday that the organization is behind the new regulations after it had been consulted. However, the FDI announced in press release on Monday that it had not even been privy to the new executive regulations. (Read in Arabic)

MANUFACTURING

Military Production Ministry in talks with Hyundai to build a container factory
Amwal Al Ghad | 01 June 2015
Negotiations are underway with Hyundai to build a container factor as part of the Suez Canal corridor development project, Ibrahim Younis the Minister of Military Production said. Younis added that there is a large scope for increased cooperation between Egypt and Korea in the manufacturing of electronics and renewable energy. The Minister also added that Korean investments will be pumped to develop the state-owned Nasr Car Company. (Read in Arabic)

HEALTHCARE

Roche to introduce three new tumor drugs to Egypt this year
Al Borsa | 01 June 2015
Pharmaceuticals manufacturer Roche announced it is introducing three new drugs to treat tumors to the Egyptian market. Roche expects sales in Egypt to decline after companies began producing Hepatitis C drug Sovaldi domestically, reducing the sales of Roche’s less effective interferon drug PEGASYS. Roche recorded EGP 600 mn in sales in 2014, 50% of which came from tumor treatments. (Read in Arabic)

REAL ESTATE & HOUSING

Saudi Arabia’s Al Khodari Sons eyes expansion in Egypt’s commercial sector
Technical Review | 01 June 2015
Saudi Arabia’s Al Khodari Sons Company is set to expand in the Egyptian market as it seeks to double its USD 453 mn investment with infrastructure projects. CEO Fawwaz Al Khodari says the company will execute a series of new projects as it plans on growing in Egypt’s commercial sector. The company is also in negotiations with the Egyptian government over the drilling of water wells. Al Khodari Sons primarily works in civil engineering projects. (Read)

Reacap sells 13.5K m2 to pay off loan to Naeem
Al Borsa | 01 June 2015
Reacap Financial Investments announced that it has sold a 13,450 m2 piece of land in downtown Alexandria, which it co-owns with Palm Hills Developments (owner of a 51% stake in the land), for EGP 322 mn. In a statement obtained by Al Borsa, Reacap’s 49% stake in the sale amounted to EGP 120 mn will be used to repay a loan to its leading shareholder, Naeem Holdings for Investment. (Read in Arabic)

TOURISM

Tourism operators request a meeting with Dimian to communicate their grievances
Al Mal | 01 June 2015
Tourism operators have requested a meeting with Finance Minister Hany Dimian to express their concerns over their dealings with the tax and customs authorities. The tourism sector wants to present its solutions to improve relations between the Finance Ministry’s authorities and the sector. The request is a follow up from PM Mahlab’s meeting with the sector’s leaders where he ensured that all of their concerns will be alleviated. (Read in Arabic)

BANKING & FINANCE

HSBC looks into providing syndicated loans to the energy and petrochemicals sector
Al Borsa | 01 June 2015
HSBC-Egypt is currently studying the possibility of providing syndicated loans to fund infrastructure projects in the energy and petrochemicals sectors, said Amr Al Bahy, Head of the Financing at HSBC. He stated that this policy may better leverage the bank’s position and its presence in 70 countries to provide large amounts credit to sustain such projects, adding that bank desires to take a more active role in funding these strategically important projects. (Read in Arabic)

Banking Sector’s loans grow by EGP 91 bn over the last nine months
Al Borsa | 1 Jun 2015
Loans provided by the banking sector have grown 15.6% (or EGP 91 bn) in the last nine months, reaching EGP 675.3 bn. According to a CBE report, 50% (or EGP 44 bn) of these loans have been in USD. (Read in Arabic)

OTHER BUSINESS NEWS OF NOTE

Presidential decree issued to inspect river transport companies
Youm7 | 01 June 2015
A presidential decree has been issued ordering the environment ministry to inspect companies and facilities which operate or seek to operate on the Nile and assess their environmental impact and safety, said Environment Minister Khaled Fahmy. He added that the government has allocated EGP 10 mn towards establishing a monitoring and quick response unit to react to and keep tabs on waste disposal. To implement the program the minister met with a number of representatives from different ministries and companies. (Read in Arabic)

Xerox contracted by Dar Al Handasah to handle paperwork in Suez Canal Project
Al Borsa | 01 June 2015
Xerox has signed a five-year deal with Dar Al Handasah Consultants whereby it will handle supplying and refurbish office equipment, printing and management of files in Dar Al Handasah’s Suez Canal Project, according to Ashraf Al Orman, General Manager of Xerox Egypt. (Read in Arabic)

Samsung Egypt to raise its production output to 4.4 mn units
Al Mal | 01 June 2015
According to representatives of Samsung Egypt, the company plans to increase its sales output in the country to 4.4 mn units, up from 3 mn last year, in a sign that the company plans to bolster its Egyptian operations. The representatives added that this has been an ongoing strategy, pointing to the fact that in the period between 2011 and 2015 the company’s employees grew from 400 to 1800. (Read in Arabic)

EGYPT POLITICS + ECONOMICS

Finance Ministry agrees to EGP 7 bn in emergency funding for various ministries
Al Borsa | 01 June 2015
Finance Minister Hany Dimian approved the disbursement of EGP 7.1 bn in emergency funding for the ministries of supplies, transport, investment, and local development as well as to the supreme council of press. EGP 6.7 bn will go to the supplies ministry, EGP 5 bn of which will go to GASC and the Development and Agricultural Credit Bank to finance wheat purchases. (Read in Arabic)

REGIONAL

Oman to invest USD 7 bn in Indonesian oil and gas
Jakarta Globe | 31 May 2015
Omani investors could invest up to USD 7 bn in Indonesia’s oil and gas sector, according to Jakarta Globe. Oman expressed interest “in developing oil and gas tanks, a refinery and a petrochemical plant in Indonesia,” Indonesia’s Energy Minister said noting that Oman is also ready to supply Indonesia with crude. There are also plans to finalize the construction of a refiner. Indonesia did not name the Omani investors involved in the project. (Read)

ON YOUR WAY OUT

USD 7 bn in foreign investments in Egypt are expected this year, said Yasser Al Naggar, deputy minister of investment. Speaking at the Egyptian-Korean Cooperation Association, he added that the GDP growth amounted to 5.6%. (Read in Arabic)

What’s surprising about the previous announcement was that the value of the banking sector’s foreign-owned assets continued to drop, falling EGP 17.8 bn to EGP 66.5 bn in 1Q15, according to the CBE. This comes as foreign deposits in the CBE grew by EGP 1.8 bn to reach EGP 32.4 bn during the same period. (Read in Arabic)

The CBE also announced that foreign debt has dropped 13.8% to USD 39.9 bn as of March. Its report highlighted that an increase in grants and the repayment of loans contributed USD 3.5 bn drop, while the weakening of borrowing currencies with respect to the dollar helped reduce foreign debt by USD 2.7 bn. (Read in Arabic)

NUCA announced the beginning of operations of the railway link between Borg El Arab and Sidi Gaber in Alexandria. The new line will begin with four trips per day, according to Al Borsa.

BY THE NUMBERS

USD CBE auction (Sunday, 31 May): 7.5301 (unchanged since Monday, 02 Feb)
USD parallel market (Sunday, 31 May): 7.63 (-0.05 from Sunday, 24 May, Reuters)

EGX30 (Monday): 8,745.04 (-0.43%)
Turnover: EGP 445.3 mn (10% below the 90-day average)

WTI: USD 60.17 (-0.05%)
Brent: USD 64.77 (-0.17%)

TASI: 9,693.6 (+0.1%)
ADX: 4,561.4 (+0.7%)
DFM: 3,941.8 (+0.5%)
KSE Weighted Index: 424.1 (+0.5%)
QE: 12,176.5 (+1.1%)
MSM: 6,411.2 (+0.4%)