At last, we have a budget: 5% GDP growth, 9.9% deficit. Emaar Misr prices IPO, institutional tranche 11x oversubscribed. Cabinet to look at legislation paving way for House of Reps elex. Wikileaks dumps Saudi cables.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING THIS WEEK

Maghreb will be at 7:00pm CLT today, while fajr will be at 3:09am CLT. And take heart: It’s all downhill after today. That’s right: Today is the longest fasting day of Ramadan,according to Egyptian Meteorological Authority spokesperson Wahid Seoudi. The fast runs 15 hours and 53 minutes.

We’ll be looking this week for more follow-up coverage on a short news item suggesting Local Development Minister Adel Labib and the Education Ministry will be spearheading acampaign this summer to address maintenance at dilapidated public schoolsnationwide.

Cabinet is expected to discuss at its weekly meeting three pieces of legislation that, once passed, could pave the way for House of Representatives elections later this year. “The three laws regulate the division of electoral constituencies, the workings of the House of Representatives, and the exercise of political rights,” reports Ahram Online‘s Gamal Essam El-Din. The State Council has finished its review of the laws and passed them back to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Transitional Justice. Over at the mothership, Al-Ahram looks at how jostling between political parties ahead of the expected fall elections is playing out in the courts. In related news, the Administrative Court postponed its ruling on a suit seeking the dissolution of religious parties to 17 October.

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

We’re taking stock of the Ramadan media landscape and will be back with a special “Ramadan Edition” of Last Night’s Talk Shows later this week.

In the meantime, those of you with both a darker sense of humor and kids of a certain age will — deep inside — smile at TNA’s ad for Fox chips. Or go read Al-Mal‘s take on why Pepsi and Coke are, so far, absent from the airwaves this Ramadan.

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SPEED ROUND

Cabinet approves draft 2015-16 budget: After three days of debate, Cabinet appears to have finally signed off on the 2015-16 budget, which will now go to President Abdel Fattah El Sisi for signoff. The bottom line: Ministers are predicting 5% GDP growth (compared with 4.2% this year) and a budget deficit of 9.9% of GDP, just under Finance Minister Hani Dimian’s target of 10% and an improvement from this year’s estimate of 10.8%. Reuters quotes Dimian as noting in a prepared statement that “achieving social equality and improving the standard of living for those in need is the focal point of this budget.” Other highlights:

• Revenues are projected to grow by 26% to EGP 612 bn
• Expenditures will climb 20% to EGP 885 bn, with EGP 61 bn of that sum earmarked for fuel subsidies, according to EGPC Chairman Tarek El Molla. Total spending on fuel subsidies in FY2014-15 clocked in at around EGP 70 bn, 30% less than originally budgeted thanks in large part to falling crude prices. (More on El Molla’s statementhere)
• Spending on social welfare grew in the new budget by 12% to a total of EGP 431 bn, or about 49% of total government expenditure.
• Tax revenue will rise 16.8% to EGP 422 bn in part through better collection and, it appears, through implementation of a value-added tax.

Emaar Misr priced its IPO at EGP 3.8 per share, according to a disclosure to the DFM. Emaar Misr’s market capitalization at listing will be approximately EGP 17.6 bn and the institutional offering tranche was 11x oversubscribed. The offer price for the Egyptian public offering will be at the same price and will run until 25 June. Writing for The National, veteran journalist Mahmoud Kassem quotes an Invest AD fund manager as noting, “In Egypt we see a continuation of IPOs, which has been very successful over the past six months and back to last year, when Arabian Cement listed after four years of no IPOs.” Shares of Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (IDH) have climbed 37% since listing on the LSE last month, while snackmaker Edita has seen its share price rise 55% since it went public on the EGX in April. EFG Hermes and JP Morgan are the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the Emaar Misr offering.

Wikileaks dumps 60k Saudi cables, >400k to follow: In what the Associated Press is calling “an unusual level of insight into day-to-day Saudi diplomacy,” Wikileaks has published the first installment of what it claims is a larger trove of Saudi diplomatic documents. Hitting closest to home so far: A cable suggesting the Saudis were willing to pay as much as USD 10 bn to secure the release into exile of former President Hosni Mubarak on the eve of the Muslim Brotherhood coming to power in 2012. The cables also delve into Saudi’s wariness over Iranian influence just about everywhere; the Foreign Ministry having to clean up the messes left behind by royals on holiday; to the fact that Washington apparently refused to send Osama bin Laden’s son a death certificate. While Saudi officials declined to respond to requests from the AP that it comment on the cables, it has tweeted that Saudi citizens shouldn’t be taken in by “faked” documents. If you’re willing to take that risk, you can browse the cache of documents on Wikileaks’ Saudi site.

“Unconventional gas production in Egypt remains something of a pipe dream,”Rachel Williamson writes for Interfax energy, noting that the USD 30-40 mn deal signed in December 2014 with Shell and Apache was not to explore shale, as was widely reported. Instead, the companies will “use horizontal drilling and multi-stage fracturing technology to produce hard-to-access gas from the chalk Apollonia field in the Abu Gharadig Basin.” The field would not be normally considered unconventional, but the Egyptian government agreed to classify it as such in order to be able to pay a higher price for its output and encourage its development. “So for political reasons the government and Shell are calling this an unconventional,” a source within Apache said. Shale gas production in Egypt does not add up, the source noted, citing minimal infrastructure connecting the Western Desert to the national gas grid; low non-market-based gas prices; and the absence of a legal framework for unconventional concessions. Want to learn more about fracking? Wired looks at why the so-called “bridge” fuel — which many expect will power the world as it transitions from oil to renewables — faces obstacles that go deeper than fears of its impact on water tables.

Orascom Construction announced the completion of the first phase of the Damietta power plant two weeks ahead of schedule, according to a press release. Early completion of Phase I ensures that 250 MW are added to the national power grid and that the additional power capacity is available for peak demand during Ramadan. OC is part of a consortium building Assiut and West Damietta power plants on a fast-track basis that, upon completion, will have a power generation capacity of 1,000 MW and 500 MW respectively.

In the wee hours of the morning, the nice folks at Al-Ahram were trumpeting as front-page news that Egypt has “Surplus electricity for the first time in years,” with the result being no power cuts in the first days of Ramadan even as usage spiked. While this clearly owes to the crash program to overhaul existing facilities and bring new generation capacity online for summer, missing from the Ahram story is the fact that the generation of power for household consumption has come at the expense of effectively cutting off electricity and / or natural gas feedstock to industry.

MOVES- SODIC’s, Ahmed ‘Dasha’ Badrawi, submitted his resignation as the company’s Managing Director effective on 15 September, according to a statement sent to the EGX on Thursday. “Badrawi joined SODIC … in 2006 as head of business development. He became managing director in March 2013,” Reuters reported.

No payment to Egyptian companies in USD, Ramez says during Sisi sitdown:Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez met on Saturday with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, recapping the CBE’s effort to ensure FX is available for legitimate purposes and its ongoing clampdown on the parallel market. According to a readout of the meeting provided by Ittihadiya, Ramez also made the point that the CBE is clamping down on USD-denominated payments by one Egyptian company to another.

The African Development Bank approved a EUR 50.2 mn loan for Egypt’s National Drainage Programme to boost domestic agriculture and household income generation. The programme aims to optimize the benefits of irrigation by draining excess irrigation water from agricultural land in order to reduce waterlogging and soil salinity as well as make more land available for cultivation, improving soil quality for 125,000 feddans. The project is expected to increase crop productivity by 15-21% for selected crops and increase farm income by 40% “for a typical one feddan farm.”

Mahlab pushes development plan for ‘popular neighborhoods’: Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab made headlines across the media spectrum on Saturday as he called a meeting of select cabinet ministers and the governor of Cairo to discuss a plan to develop neighborhoods that while impoverished, are historically significant. The project will begin with Cairo neighborhoods including Darb Al-Ahmar, Gamaliya, Helmiya, Sayeda Zeinab and Sayed Nafisa, with work focusing first primarily on the overhaul of streets, historic sites and crumbling infrastructure. Cabinet-level participants included the ministers of local and urban development, health, social solidarity and culture. Ahram Online and Al-Masry Al-Youm have more.

“The Egyptian economy is like a car with a flat battery, so it needs a push. Mega projects and foreign investments are only the push for the car, but it won’t run and move forward without growing [SMEs],” British Ambassador John Casson told Daily News Egypt in an interview. Casson said investors are looking for Egypt to implement its reform plans, look for “fair treatment” from the government and make sure they will be paid back, and need the private sector’s base to open up and have simpler regulations and more open access to foreign currency. He also mentioned that the UK remains the single largest investor in Egypt having contributed 49.5% of total FDI in the past five years.

ICYMI– Egypt Independent is resurrecting a story from this past March noting that theMarriott will take over management of the storied Mena House Hotel overlooking the Pyramids effective in July. We’re going to go out on a limb here and say it’s probably an occasion to rejoice given the chain’s track record with the historic Cairo Marriott in Zamalek.

The Russians are coming: Following a deal signed between Rosatom and Egypt to build a nuclear power plant in Daba’a, “Saudi Arabia and Russia have signed an agreement to cooperate on nuclear energy development,” Reuters reported. Al Arabiya reportedly said Saudi Arabia is planning to build 16 nuclear reactors, with Moscow playing “a significant role in operating them.” “Here comes the Saudi-Russian alliance,” Saudi Arabia expert Simon Henderson writes for Business Insider. “In reality, bilateral relations [between Riyadh and Moscow] have been awkward if not antagonistic,” he notes, “but given Muhammad bin Salman’s growing prominence at home and his obvious closeness to his father … the possibility of significant upgrades to the Saudi-Russian relationship seems likely” with cooperation in the oil sector also likely to be on the agenda. Russia has also inked a nuclear cooperation deal with Jordan, as we have previously reported.

Ethiopia will be the fastest growing country in the world in the four years through 2017, says the World Economic Forum, and six of the 13 fastest-growing economies will be in Africa. That doesn’t mean, though, that we’re living in a golden age of self-sustaining African growth, as the blog Africa is a Country reminds us, pointing out that “Africa’s current growth revival (the continent did grow, and healthily so, from the 1960s to the 1970s) seems to be largely driven by external factors: China’s spectacular growth and along with it an increase in the price of commodities, whose exports Africa relies on to a great extent. So any slowdown in China’s growth, as is likely to happen as its economy matures, is likely to impact greatly on Africa’s performance.” See more in ‘Is Africa really rising? History and facts suggest it isn’t.’

‘Land of Pork and Honey‘: If Slate is to be believed, there’s a Jewish subculture in Israel that’s going bananas for ‘the other white meat,’ as the late 1980s / early 1990s ad U.S. ad campaign would have you call it. “As the sun sets on Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square, a nearby Kabbalah Center wraps up its outdoor lecture series, boutiques and galleries close up for the night, and beachgoers still in their bikinis park at the bike-share station. Nearby, normcore-clad hipsters are descending on one of the city’s only barbecue joints. They come in hordes for cocktails and soul food, but mostly for something that, while unremarkable in most cosmopolitan cities, has long been viewed as forbidden fruit in Israel: pork.”

Speaking of Jews and food: The FT has a nice profile this morning of Claudia Roden, who grew up Jewish in Cairo — and who went on to kindle Britain’s love affair hummus, tahina and felafel after her family was exiled following the Suez crisis.

And our final food-inspired story of the day: Juhayna gets a shout-out from Arla, its new JV partner, in the FT’s ‘Middle East dairy demand rides on oil‘. (Check out the ArJu releasehere in pdf or read Just Food’s take on ‘Why Arla’s Egyptian JV with Juhayna is shrewd‘. Hint: “Expanding via a tie-up with a local company is a smart move from Arla as it works to grow in a market where competition is on the up and M&A valuations are high.”)

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A MESSAGE FROM PHAROS HOLDING

Alex Containers Beats Expectations with Impressive Set of Results in 11M FY15

Alexandria Containers and Cargo Handling recorded a net profit of EGP 775.1 mn in the 11 months ending May 2015, an impressive 64.2% y-o-y surge, mainly on the back of improvements in core operations and partially due to capital and FX Gains. The firm handled 932,559 containers at an average revenue of EGP 1,203 per container during the period, showing volume and revenue growth of 14.8% and 22.8% respectively and surpassing initial projections.

According to Pharos Research, the company is trading at an exceptionally low earnings multiple of 6.7x – based on 11M FY15 earnings and Tuesday’s closing price. As a result, Pharos believes a material upgrade in the company’s FV estimate is warranted. For more details click here.
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EGYPT IN THE NEWS

International headlines on Egypt this morning are almost evenly split between stories on 8 mn mummified animals (below), quick takes on the closure of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza after one week, and news that Germany has arrested Al-Jazeera Journalist Ahmed Mansour at a Berlin airport on Saturday at Egypt’s behest. Through that haze, breakout stories include:

‘Is Egypt Ready to Take IMF Pledges?‘ asks Ahmed Feteha in the Middle East edition of Bloomberg Businessweek. “The current government, headed by ex-general Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, hasn’t ruled out a loan from the IMF, though the deputy finance minister, Ayman El-Kaffas, denied a report in El Watan newspaper last month that a USD 6 bn deal would be discussed with IMF officials in Cairo this month.” His conclusion: A deal is basically just a matter of time.

Egyptian embassy in D.C. takes Post to task on ‘A strongman’s empty promise.’Mohamed Tawfik, Egypt’s ambassador to Washington, takes the Washington Post to task over the editorial we noted last week, concluding: “When the victims [of terror] are westerners, the Post never hesitates to condemn terrorism. But when the victims are people from other cultures, this newspaper is quick to lay the blame on their respective governments. Whether out of sheer hypocrisy, or a misguided belief that appeasing violent groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood will spare the West their wrath, it is a deluded approach that will ultimately backfire.”

In running ‘The west’s betrayal of Egypt will reap a bitter harvest,’ the Guardian has given the Islamist and Morsi-era minister of planning Amr Darrag another platform for the now-standard Brotherhood line that while of course they’re entirely committed to nonviolence, the crackdown on Islamists will only result in the emergence of “dangerous ideologies based on resentment, injustice and hatred.” Darrag points to the Daesh branch in Sinai and steadfastly refusing to use the word “terror.”

Apparently, a few people of the authors’ acquaintance taking off their hijab and / or coming out as LGBT means revolution is afoot. Are some women taking off the hijab? In our limited social circle, yes. Has there been social change post-2011? Inarguably, yes. But ‘Egypt’s Quiet Social Revolution‘ in the US tabloid Foreign Policy doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what it is, let alone how it might play out over the generation to come.

CNN has pulled out the stops on soft coverage of Cairo in the past week, including a look at obstacles facing Egyptian entrepreneurs (video; running time 2:52) to its ‘13 signs that you’re probably in Cairo,’ which includes a roundup of tweets from its audience and 20 images submitted by the site’s readers.

WHAT YOU CLICKED ON LAST WEEK

The five most-clicked links of in Enterprise during the week of 7 June 2015 were:

• The five cheapest cars you can buy in Egypt (Al-Mal)
• NASA astronaut Terry Virts’ shot of the Pyramids (Twitter)
• N Gage Consulting’s Africa Free Trade Zone Report (pdf download)
• Cabinet’s view on investment incentives for the Suez Canal Development Zone (Al-Borsa)
• Video: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner goes near vertical on takeoff (The Hill)

WORTH READING

If you think it’s bad when the lights go off, imagine what it would be like if we had no water. Two of the world’s three most-overstretched underground water supplies are in the Arab world, and the Nubia Aquifer System that covers Egypt and much of Sudan isn’t faring a whole lot better, according to a Toronto Star pickup of two NASA-based studies on groundwater. The most-stressed system in the world is the Arabian Aquifer System, which “serves more than 60 mn people across Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and parts of Jordan, Iraq and Syria.” Says the lead author of the two studies: “What happens when a highly stressed aquifer is located in a region with socioeconomic or political tensions that can’t supplement declining water supplies fast enough?We’re trying to raise red flags now to pinpoint where active management today could protect future lives and livelihoods.” Read the NASA statement on the studies or check out the mapdetailing the globe’s major aquifers and how stressed each is.

DIPLOMACY

Both President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab met with Yemen’s vice president, Khaled Bahah, to discuss the situation in Yemen and the most recent developments with the peace negotiations in Geneva, according to media reports and an emailed statementfrom Ittihadiya.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed the possibility of reviving peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians as well as the security situation in Libya during a sit-down in Cairo with his French counterpart, Laurent Fabius.

ENERGY

Egypt, Gazprom address prospect of bilateral cooperation, expanding LNG supplies
Gazprom Press Release | 18 June 2015
Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, the Industry Minister and Gazprom’s Chairman, Alexey Miller, had “a working meeting today within the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2015.” The press release from Gazprom noted that “[t]he parties addressed the current issues and prospects for the bilateral cooperation development in the gas sector, namely the interaction expansion in the area of LNG supplies from the Gazprom Group portfolio to regasification terminals in Egypt.” (Read)

Jordan’s Housing Bank arranges USD 120 mn syndicated loan for Jordanian Egyptian Fajr
Al Bawaba | 18 June 2015
Jordan’s Housing Bank announced the arrangement of a USD 120 mn syndicated loan for the Jordanian Egyptian Fajr for Natural Gas Transmission and Supply Company. Amongst the participants in the loan is Banque du Caire Amman. The loan will be used to finance regasification activities in Aqaba and pumping it through Fajr’s pipelines to fuel Jordanian power stations. (Read in Arabic)

El Sewedy Electric secures funding for the Beni Suef power station project
Al Mal | 18 June 2015
El Sewedy Electric secured EGP 4 bn and EUR 230 mn loans to finance the construction of the 4,400 MW Beni Suef power station. The EGP loan is organized by NBAD and the EUR loan is supplied by HSBC at 2% interest payable over 15 years. Al Mal reports that GE is also looking to secure funding for its power station projects. (Read in Arabic)

Sea Dragon receives seismic mapping offers for its Dessouk concession
Al Mal | 18 June 2015
Sea Dragon has received a number of offers to conduct the 3D seismic mapping for its Dessouk concession. The company is assessing the submitted bids and has already allocated over EGP 68 mn for the procedure. Sea Dragon is currently trying to lower the offered prices to reflect the reduction in the international oil price. (Read in Arabic)

Fuel shortages return during Ramadan
Egypt Independent | 20 June 2015
Shortages of diesel and 80-octane fuel have swept numerous governorates, the paper says as a prelude to a roundup of anecdotes about the rising cost of taxi rides in Sohag, price rises for fuel in Qena and the seizure of black-market fuel in Qalyubiya and Gerga. (Read)

Asyut Power Station set to increase production capacity
Al Mal | 20 June 2015
Three 125 MW electrical units will be connected to the Asyut Power Station before the end of this week, adding 375 MW of power to Egypt’s national grid. The project, which is part of Egypt’s emergency electricity plan for 2015, was undertaken by General Electric and Orascom Construction. Three additional electrical units, with an identical production capacity of 375 MW, were added to Asyut Power Station in May. (Read in Arabic)

INFRASTRUCTURE

NAT in talks with Arab Contractors, OC over completing third metro line
Amwal Al Ghad | 18 June 2015
The National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) has started negotiations with the Arab Contractors and Orascom Construction over completing the last part of the fourth phase of the third metro line in Cairo. The final part is set to cost EGP 4 bn and will connect Gesr El Suez to Salam City. The government will secure funding for the project and the NAT is still tapping the EUR 900 mn in funds borrowed from the EIB and the AFD. (Read in Arabic)

El Sisi, Mamish meet to review New Suez Canal Progress
Statement from Ittihadiya | 18 June 2015
Suez Canal Authority chief Mohamed Mamish briefed President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on the latest from the New Suez Canal on Thursday, assuring the president that dry digging has finished; dredging is 87% complete; and 40% of the lining has been completed, putting the project on track for its 6 August 2015 grand opening. The statement also notes that El Sisi “instructed the Suez Canal Authority to move ahead with the implementation of the proposals [for an industrial zone and logistics hub in an near the port of East Port Said] as the Suez Canal Area Development Project comes under its authority.” (Read)

Water treatment plant in Beni Suef inaugurated
Amwal Al Ghad | 18 June 2015
Housing Minister Moustafa Madbouli inaugurated a water treatment plant in Beni Suef on Thursday. The plant will serve 860,000 people raising the share of Beni Suef residents of potable water annually to 200 litres per day in urban areas to 150 litres in rural ones. The new plan covers Beni Suef’s needs of clean water until 2030, Madbouli said. (Read in Arabic)

BASIC MATERIALS & COMMODITIES

South Valley Cement’s talks to acquire EK Holdings’ stake in BMIC put on hold
Al Mal | 18 June 2015
South Valley Cement’s negotiations to acquire EK Holdings’ stake in the Building Materials Industries Company (BMIC) are put on hold, according to a South Valley board member. The two parties failed to reach an agreement on a fair share price. Sources told Al Mal that the deal is estimated to be worth around EGP 460 mn. A source at EK Holding said the there is no clear vision regarding the deal yet. (Read in Arabic)

REAL ESTATE & HOUSING

Cairo Conference Centre to be delivered after repairs in two months
Amwal Al Ghad | 18 June 2015
The project to repair the Cairo Conference Centre after a fire destroyed large parts of it will be completed within two months, the Arab Contractors’ Chairman said. The project cost EGP 500 mn and involves two phases; removing the fire damage and supporting the building’s structure. The building will also be equipped with modern fire alarm systems. (Read in Arabic)

TOURISM

Tourism sector needs to double labor force to respond to demand, advisor says
Daily News Egypt | 17 June 2015
“The tourism sector needs to double the number of its employees in order to meet the market’s needs,” Tourism Ministry advisor Hussein Badran said. The sector had lost 40-50% of its labor force during the past four years as the sector lost momentum and the sector is now in need to “train new employees and refine the existing labor skills,” he added. Badran said the government is spending EGP 30-40 mn to establish training centers and launch training programs. (Read)

TELECOMS & ICT

CIT Ministry to tap USF to reduce internet prices
Al Borsa | 17 June 2015
The CIT Ministry is assessing a suggestion to channel part of the internet service price reduction to the Universal Service Fund (USF) temporarily. The fund’s main objective is to “compensate telecommunications operators and service providers for price differences between the approved economical price for a service and that which may be determined by the State in favor of the user.” Telecom Egypt had refused a proposal to lower the rental cost of its infrastructure to ISPs by up to 75% and the CIT Ministry had also refused a delay the internet price reductions. The proposal now involves tapping the USF to cover the price difference for six months until an agreement is reached between TE and domestic ISPs. (Read in Arabic)

Telecommunication Regulatory Authority studies financial penalties on mobile operators
Al Borsa | 20 June 2015
The Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) is studying imposing financial penalties on the three mobile network operators, saying they have not eliminated the sale of SIM cards by sub-agents. The NTRA imposed a three-month ban on the sale of SIMs by any party other than the mobile network operators pending the licensing of retail outlets. The operators claim they are in full compliance with the requirement.

AUTOMOTIVE & TRANSPORTATION

Tender for advertising on Cairo Metro tickets to be issued shortly
Al Borsa | 20 June 2015
The Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation (Cairo Metro) is set to issue a tender the right to sell advertising space on the back of Cairo Metro tickets, reports Al Borsa. The tender guidelines for the project have been completed and will be available for purchase by interested parties starting from next week. Cairo Metro’s revenues from advertising- and commercial-related activities have risen from EGP 32 mn in 2014 to EGP 96 mn during the current fiscal year. (Read in Arabic )

BANKING & FINANCE

Barclays targeting EGP 400 mn in new retail loans in 2015
Al Mal | 18 June 2015
Barclays Bank wants to pump EGP 400 mn in retail loans before the end of 2014, Hazem Hegazy, the Consumer Banking Director, told Al Mal. Currently, Barclays’ retail portfolio EGP 2.1 bn out of a total credit portfolio of EGP 5 bn. The bank is looking to expand geographically in Egypt and will be adding two new branches, one in Cairo and another in Alexandria, soon. (Read in Arabic)

ON YOUR WAY OUT

AFP reports that “Lawyers for Egypt’s deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on Thursday appealed his sentencing to 20 years in prison for the arrest and torture of protesters during his mandate, one said.” The former president has apparently refused himself to appeal, saying he doesn’t recognize the court’s jurisdiction as he is still the elected president of Egypt.

With 138 reported attacks, May 2015 witnessed the highest number of reported terror attacks in Egypt in one month on record, according to the TIMEP Egypt Security Watch monthly briefing. In total, attacks took place in 18 provinces across Egypt and 39 of the 138 reported attacks took place in North Sinai, with reported attacks on economic targets increasing to 55. You can view the report in full here.

On the same topic: Check out Egypt’s entry in the recently-released US State Department 2014 Report on Terrorism.

Egypt’s new Rafale fighters will load-up with France’s AASM Hammer air-to-ground missile, UPI reports, saying missile-maker Sagem and the Defense Ministry inked the contract last week at the Paris Air Show.

Remember the Haima with the “bionic face design” we told you about on Thursday in our pickup of Al-Mal’s list of the five least-expensive cars one can purchase in Egypt? Well, they have a follow-up: It seems exactly one of the things has been sold so far this year — and that was back in January.

Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada are exempt from the decision to ban Egyptians from being served alcohol during Ramadan, a tourism official said.

Archaeologists estimate that some 8 mn animals, most of them dogs, are buried in the catacombs of Anubis, around Saqqara, CNN reports.

BY THE NUMBERS

USD CBE auction (Thursday, 18 June): 7.5301 (unchanged since Monday, 02 Feb)
USD parallel market (Thursday, 18 June): 7.68 (unchanged from Sunday, 07 June, Reuters)

EGX30 (Thursday): 8,576.71 (+0.24%)
Turnover: EGP 344.2 mn (28% below the 90-day average)

WTI: USD 59.61 (-1.39%)
Brent: USD 63.02 (-1.93%)

TASI: 9,505.7 (-0.4%)
ADX: 4,572.0 (-0.2%)
DFM: 4,063.9 (-0.6%)
KSE Weighted Index: 424.3 (+0.1%)
QE: 11,898.0 (+0.1%)
MSM: 6,455.4 (-0.2%)