The pound falls to an all-time low of EGP 10 to the USD

TL;DR

Five MENA-based banks are in the hunt for Barclays Egypt. (Speed Round)

Ezz Al Arab: “I am getting ‘uncomfortable’ questions from foreign shareholders” on CBE’s imposition of term limits. (Speed Round)

Pound falls to EGP 10 against USD on parallel market, CBE shuts down five exchange offices. (Speed Round)

Bloomberg to World: Egyptians love real estate. (Speed Round)

El Sisi sacks Central Auditing Organisation head Hisham Geneina. (Speed Round)

Israeli natural gas exports to Egypt set back at least 1 year by court decision. (Speed Round)

Washington Post, Al-Jazeera take pot shots at Egypt on an otherwise quiet day for Egypt in the international press. Oh, and apparently we’re all very cross with Messi. (Egypt in the News)

Emerging markets are in a USD recession worse than 1998-99. (Worth Reading)

Gov’t mulls “pumped-storage” hydroelectric station. We explain the basics. (Energy)

Banque Misr, having gone short on USD, seeks EUR 300 mn syndicated facility. (Banking + Finance)

By the Numbers

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr is reportedly set to sign a USD 5 mn grant from the World Bank along with a cooperation agreement with the Trade and Industry Ministry, GAFI, and the Industrial Development Authority, according to Ahram.

The Future Rail and Metro Egypt conference kicks off today and runs until Thursday 31 March at The Nile Ritz-Carlton Cairo.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING THIS WEEK

J. Walter Thompson Cairo (JWT) is expected to meet with Tourism Minister Mohamed Yehia Rashed this week to discuss the fate of the tourism promotional campaign JWT was contracted to lead last year, JWT Chief Executive said Hani Shoukry said on Sunday, Al Mal reports.

ON THE HORIZON

CBE Governor Tarek Amer is set to hold a meeting at noon on Sunday 3 April with an unprecedented number of bank leaders, according to a senior banking official who received Amer’s invitation, Al Borsa reports. The attendees include all the heads of banks operating in the Egyptian market, their deputies, and a number of other officials. The meeting is the first between Amer and officials set to be laid off due to the new nine-year cap on term limits, according to the source.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman is visiting Cairo on 4 April for talks with senior Egyptian officials including President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, according to a statement from the Saudi Embassy in Cairo.

The four day Cityscape Egypt Conference kicks off on 7 April at the Cairo International Convention Centre.

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SPEED ROUND

Five MENA-based bidders in the hunt for Barclays Egypt -sources: Unnamed sources tell Al Mal that five Arab banks are interested in acquiring Barclays’ Egypt operations. First Gulf Bank is reportedly leading a pack that includes UAE banks Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah, and Lebanon’s Byblos Bank, as well as Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank, the latter of which which has been part of every banking sector acquisition rumour in Egypt since 2010. The sources said the bank is likely to be sold at a price-to-book multiple of x1.5-2 for a value of USD 500-700 mn. There are no reports of any local banks being interested in Barclays Egypt, but our bet is that they would have struggled to raise the reported USD-denominated going price anyway.

“I am getting ‘uncomfortable’ questions from foreign shareholders,” CIB Chairman and Managing Director Hisham Ezz Al-Arab said as a consequence of the CBE’s decree that limits his time at the bank’s helm. Ezz Al-Arab told Al Mal he looked into similar decisions globally and only found similarities with Tarek Amer’s decree in Nigeria in 2010, but declined to give a clear opinion on the matter. Al Borsa adds that he said CIB will issue an official response soon, after the bank’s foreign shareholders return from their Easter holiday.

… Banking expert Hany Aboul Fotouh is wondering if “the CBE exercising its patriarchy over shareholders, and does it presume to know their interests better than them?” Aboul Fotouh argues that the CBE governor does not have the authority to cap the tenure of bank executives and says Tarek Amer might be influenced by international studies or the experience of Nigeria’s central bank. He says the CBE should leave it to shareholders to decide how long they want bank senior executives to stay in office for.

The EGP weakened to a record EGP 10 against the USD on Monday, Reuters reports, after CBE governor Tarek Amer said on Saturday during an interview with Lamees El Hadidy that laws would be amended to tighten controls on currency trading in the parallel market. Already, the central bank has shut down a total of five FX bureaus after proving they committed “several violations,” including manipulating exchange rates, DNE quotes Deputy CBE Governor Gamal Negm as saying at an industry conference on Monday. Negm reiterated that the CBE is close to finalizing legislations governing FX trading outside the banking system, but stopped short of detailing the measures. (The Public Funds’ Crimes Investigations Unit is reportedly working with the CBE on regulatory changes to shutter and revoke the licenses of currency traders that do not comply with directives, as we noted yesterday, citing anonymous sources speaking with Al Borsa).

On Beltone’s acquisition of CI Capital: EFSA Chairman Sherif Samy said the authority is not bound by the timeline provided by the two parties for the completion of the agreement. The timeline, which is set to expire by the end of March, is irrelevant to EFSA’s assessments, he added. Samy said the authority will take its time to assess the agreement and will not succumb to pressure, Al Mal reported. Still, a close but unnamed source told Reuters the acquisition will go through and receive EFSA approvals despite the obstacles.

The Electricity Ministry plans to float two companies in early 2018, Minister Mohamed Shaker told Al Mal. The companies will be managing 18 GW of electricity output from stations being built by Siemens and the other will be in control of the 3.6 GW being produced as part of the emergency electricity production plan now being implemented. The listings will give the private sector a chance to “benefit from the profit margin” the companies are expected to generate, Shaker explained.

Egyptians have been parking their money in real estate as a hedge against a weaker EGP, Bloomberg reports. The government has since spurred construction by releasing more land, tinkering with the auction system, and looking at agreements that give it a share of developers’ profits. This was all happening before the devaluation. The EGX30 Real Estate Index has risen 22.6% since 14 March, when the central bank weakened the EGP by the most since 2003. Over the following two days, Palm Hills Development SAE said it sold 108 units at Palm Valley project west of Cairo for EGP 491 mn. “We have a culture that thinks of real estate as a safe investment that’s why when times are bad people tend to invest more in real estate,” SODIC managing director Magued Sherif said in an interview. Devaluation “is good for the real estate market,” he said.

Are we allowed to use mobile phones to receive cash from abroad? Yes, according to MasterCard’s MEA group head for global processing, Kaushik Gopal, Al Mal reported. Gopal says the CBE has approved international cash transfers over the phone after it guaranteed that best practices in controlling money laundry were being adopted. MasterCard had helped National Bank of Egypt launch a mobile payment wallet to banked and unbanked customers across Egypt called “Phone Cash” in collaboration with Fawry and Egyptian Banks Company in 2013. The service was used to “send money, pay phone bills, load credit to prepaid phones, make donations and reserve airline tickets” across Egypt and MasterCard noted that “very soon” it would allow users “to make e-commerce transactions across the globe.”

Foreign companies are generating an average of 30-40% profit margin in Egypt, PwC Tax Partner Karim Emam told Al Masry Al Youm. This is one of the highest rates of return internationally and the companies will be able to repatriate profits “sooner or later,” he added.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has reportedly sacked Central Auditing Organisation (CAO) head Hisham Geneina, according to Al Mal, after news broke that the prosecution had begun investigating Geneina for his “misleading” statement on the value of money lost due to state corruption (estimating it at EGP 600 bn in 2015), writes Al Mal in a separate piece. Geneina has been banned from travel, and deputy CAO chief Hisham Badawi has been appointed in Geneina’s place, according to AMAY. Reuters has coverage in English.

MOVES- Among the top executives reported to have played musical chairs yesterday:

• Former Etisalat Misr chief Saleh Abdullah Al Abdooli was appointed CEO of Etisalat Group and will now manage the company’s international operations as well as UAE operations. Al Abdooli was appointed as CEO of Etisalat Misr 2006. Besides his new role, Al Abdooli will remain as the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Etisalat, Chairman of the Executive Committee for Etisalat Misr, Chairman of Etisalat Services Holding Company and Chairman of Thuraya.
• Safwat Musallam was appointed acting chairman of EgyptAir Holding Company on Monday, Al Borsa reports. Musallam has occupied several positions in EgyptAir Holding, including CEO of Karnak, a travel agency subsidiary of EgyptAir, head of the commercial sector, head of the alliances sector, and regional director in both Italy and Spain.
• The head of Crédit Suisse’s USD 325 bn money management arm, Robert Jain, has joined Millennium Management, where he will become chief investment officer, the Financial Times (paywall) reports.

Malaysia is feeling the pain of Egypt’s hard currency woes, Reuters reports, with a piece on the prospects for the Asian nation’s palm oil trade noting that Egypt and Pakistan are cutting back their orders for the commodity in the run-up to Ramadan, a peak demand season. “Egypt was the third-largest Middle Eastern importer of palm oil in 2015 from Malaysia, taking nearly 210,000 tonnes, the MPOB data showed. However, that was down from over 700,000 tonnes in 2011,” Reuters notes, adding that “Egypt typically needs to buy a total of about 80,000 tonnes of palm oil a month from Indonesia and Malaysia to boost supplies for Ramadan but the country has been taking only about 60,000 tonnes since the start of 2016.”

Other stories briefly noted this morning:

• The Industrial Development Authority expects strong interest in new cement licenses, Al Borsa reports.
• If you follow GB Auto shares, Al-Mal has an exhaustive interview with passenger car boss Mostafa Abdel Halim.
• Bavarian Auto Group’s Brilliance division, the Chinese brand’s exclusive agent in Egypt, reportedly plans to introduce new models and is considering assembly of at least two models domestically.
• The government has no plans to privatize state-owned companies, Minister of Public Enterprise Ashraf Sharkawy is quoted by Al Masry Al Youm as having said last night.

The Israeli court decision on which we reported yesterday has likely delayed gas exports to Egypt by at least a year. Reading between the lines in a Wall Street Journal report, gas imports from our Eastern neighbors may yet be possible. The Israeli court ruling suspends an Israeli government agreement with Noble Energy and Delek Group for one year, saying a 10-year price stability clause will need amendment and — quite possibly — approval from the fractious Knesset. Noble and Delek have since said they will “work with the government immediately to create conditions for stability” with a view to keeping the gas field on track to begin production by 2019. The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times have more coverage, while the Jerusalem Post serves up a business-friendly view. To really get into the weeds, go download Delek Group’s English-language transcript (pdf) of yesterday’s Hebrew-language conference call with investors, which focused specifically on the decision. The possibility of imports from Israel’s Leviathan field, alongside our own recent natural gas discoveries, have prompted speculation that Egypt could emerge as a regional gas hub serving Europe.

Saudi losing oil market share? “Saudi Arabia lost market share in more than half of the most important countries it sold crude to in the past three years, even as the kingdom increased output to record levels,” the Financial Times (paywall) reports, saying it crunched customs data that shows the Kingdom losing market share in nine of its top 15 markets. Among them: China, the United States and South Africa.

THE MACRO PICTURE

Chinese stocks fell after the announcement of changes set to dampen demand for homes in some of the most sought after real estate markets in the country, Bloomberg reports. Policymakers introduced measures, like higher down payments, to quell soaring home prices in cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen, where prices greatly differ from those in lower-tier cities, Bloomberg writes. Meanwhile, China has devoted CNY 100 bn (USD 15.4 bn) to help “resettle” workers in the private steel sector as mns are set to lose their jobs when China shuts down several underperforming mines and mills, according to the FT (paywall).

Across the Med, a study by the Brussels-based research group Bruegel reveals that the EU could grow faster by overhauling its budget rules to focus on spending rather than structural budget deficits, Bloomberg reports. Completely scrapping the current system would be the best way, but isn’t very feasible, Gregory Claeys, Zsolt Darvas and Alvaro Leandro wrote in the Bruegel paper. “In practice, the implementation of the rules is hindered by badly-measured indicators and incorrect forecasts, which can lead to misleading policy recommendations.”

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

The Washington Post’s editorial board doesn’t much like Egypt at the moment… If it’s the end of March, it’s time for the Washington Post editorial board’s (just about literally) fortnightly condemnation of Egypt. Would that they had added something new to the state of debate, but the Post’s tastemakers are springboarding from the St. Patrick’s Day offering (“Don’t reward Egypt for torturing innocents”) to “Two Coups,” which at least gets points for creativity by using changing U.S. policy toward Argentina as the base from which to take a dig at Egypt.

…and neither does Al Jazeera. Despite the CBE’s most recent move to devalue the EGP, the situation in Egypt could still get out of hand, Al Jazeera says. Not only has the move failed to quell the black market, it’s poised to deliver` a blow to poorer segments of society if monetary policies “elicit panic rather than confidence, or if speculators run the Egyptian pound into the ground,” writes Khaled Diab. “The Sisi regime has demanded of ordinary Egyptians to tighten their belts, while cushioning the wealthy, has given activists and critics a royal belting, and has been unable to keep a rein on spiralling terrorism and insurgency. In addition, despite escalating repression, industrial action continues to sweep across the country.”

Springboarding from that: Al Jazeera’s Omar Ashour argues in the plainly titled “Egypt’s notorious police brutality record” that Egypt’s crackdown on dissent has intensified since 2015 is largely to do with a belief within security and military factions that “the main fault of Hosni Mubarak was his ‘leniency’” and the “sustained international and domestic impunity.”

(In other news: Our GCC edition noted yesterday that Al-Jazeera is slashing 500 jobs just two months after it shut down its U.S. arm as the Gulf statelet feels the pain of low oil prices and pressure to hire additional slave labor to build infrastructure — and pitch tents — for the 2022 World Cup.)

The Jerusalem Post picked up on the fact that Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry avoided labeling Hezbollah a terrorist organization during an interview with Youm7. Shoukry argued that “the Arab League’s decision [to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization] is related to Hezbollah’s behavior, describing it as terror. However, the international community has not yet reached an agreed definition of ‘terror.'” Shoukry’s remarks reflect the ongoing tensions between Saudi Arabia on Hezbollah, amid the upcoming visit of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz to Cairo in April.

And, of course, the most important news story of the day: “Egyptians furious after Messi donates his shoes to charity in Cairo”, reads the headline that sits atop a Jerusalem Post story. Barcelona football star Lionel Messi stirred up unintentional, and yet completely expected, controversy in Egypt when he went on TV show ‘Yes, I Am Famous’ where he presented host Mona El-Sharkawy with his shoes to donate to charity, Ahram Online reports. Needless to say, social media didn’t take it so well, claiming the act was insulting and degrading. “We [Egyptians] have never been humiliated during our seven thousand years of civilisation … I will hit you with a shoe, Messi,” said MP and TV presenter Said Hasasin on Sunday during his evening talk show before taking off his own shoe on air and “donating” it to Argentina.

WORTH READING

Egypt isn’t the only nation now that, in USD terms, is in a recession. “Several central banks have made failing attempts to resist the strengthening of the USD, running down foreign exchange reserves before giving way to overwhelming exchange rate pressure,” writes Fitch Global Head of Sovereign Ratings James McCormack. “The strength of the USD is the single most important issue of the many facing emerging market (EM) economies. At the same time – and in some cases as a corollary of the USD’s strength – they are struggling with lower commodity prices, increasing rates of inflation, heightened political and geopolitical risks, greater financial market volatility, large capital outflows and an extended period of weakness in global trade.” Read “EM USD recession eclipses 1998-99 in depth” on the FT’s BeyondBRICs blog, which typically doesn’t require a subscription to access.

DIPLOMACY + FOREIGN TRADE

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has sent Immigration Minister Nabila Makram Ebeid to Sudan to look into the arrest of Egyptian students in the country over allegations that they were selling leaked high school exam papers, according to Ahram Online. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry announced that 26 Egyptian students were arrested by Sudanese authorities, but as no clear charges had been filed against them, the Egyptian embassy in Khartoum is working on their release.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with Bahraini counterpart Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa on Monday in Manama to talk preparations for the ninth Egyptian-Bahraini committee, which will be held in Cairo on 16-17 May, according to a ministry statement. Shoukry’s next stop is the UAE before heading to the US to take part in the Nuclear Security Summit that will be held on 31 March.

ENERGY

Government assesses building pumped-storage hydroelectricity station in Upper Egypt
The Electricity Ministry is considering building a pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH) station in Upper Egypt and has contracted three foreign consultancy offices to assess the project, Al Borsa reported. The station proposed could have a production capacity of 2,000 MW. PSH stations store “energy in the form of gravitational potential energy of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation. Low-cost off-peak electric power is used to run the pumps. During periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released through turbines to produce electric power. Although the losses of the pumping process makes the plant a net consumer of energy overall, the system increases revenue by selling more electricity during periods of peak demand, when electricity prices are highest.” A source at the ministry said the PSH station is an “unconventional energy production source” that would be to manage peak-hour demand and help create an electricity surplus that could be sold regionally. (Read in Arabic)

Tenders for Egypt-Saudi Arabia electricity interconnection project delayed until June
The Electricity Ministry has decided to delay issuing the tenders related to the Egypt-Saudi Arabia electricity interconnection project until June, while amending the clauses of the agreements, Chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company Gamal Abdel Rehim told Al Borsa. This is the third time the tenders get postponed, however Abdel Rehim said this does not delay the project timeline, which is set for operation in late-2018. (Read in Arabic)

Shell Lubricants Egypt set to double business activity
Shell Lubricants Egypt is aiming to double its business activity compared to last year by raising the capacity of its Sixth October plant to 100 mn litres annually, said Managing Director Saher Hashem, according to Al Mal. Shell controls 17% of the lubricant market, he adds, and aims to become the country’s principal supplier. Shell Lubricants are also launching a new service in cooperation with Aramex that brings a technician with a filter and lubricants to your doorstep, said Hashem. (Read in Arabic)

INFRASTRUCTURE

Housing Ministry begins administrative capital infrastructure network next week
Four main contractors are set to begin extending the infrastructure network to the first phase of the new administrative capital next week, sources within the ministry told Al Borsa. The four companies include the Arab Contractors, Hassan Allam Sons, Societe Egyptienne d’Entreprises, and Concord Engineering. The first phase of the project includes 3,000 feddans of the prioritized 10,500 feddans and and has a total cost of EGP 4 bn. The ministry had earlier received cabinet’s approval to task the contractors by direct order. (Read in Arabic)

BASIC MATERIALS + COMMODITIES

GASC cancels rice tender, no reason given
The General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) cancelled a tender to buy rice, the vice chairman of the authority Mamdouh Abdel Fattah announced yesterday. The tender was for an unspecified quantity of rice, and no reason for the cancellation was given, Reuters reported. Traders report GASC had only received two valid bids for Indian rice, with a third being disqualified for lacking necessary paperwork. Another tender with a deadline of 2 April will be issued, said Abdel Fattah. This is the second rice tender to be cancelled since October 2015 when a ban on Egyptian rice exports was lifted. The newswire adds that GASC is attempting to import cheaper Indian rice “as a way of tackling the stockpiling problem as it would force local traders to lower their prices.” (Read)

REAL ESTATE + HOUSING

Al Ahly for Real Estate Development studies buying new land for sports club
Al Ahly for Real Estate Development is looking into buying new land to build a sports club, similar to the company’s existing Platinum Club in New Cairo, Chairman Hussein Sabbour told Amwal Al Ghad. The company is interested in New Cairo and Sixth October, but are also looking at replicating Platinum Club in other governorates, primarily Mansoura, he added. The company is currently studying various locations and whether or not a need for sports clubs there exists. (Read in Arabic)

Abu Dhabi Capital Group to start constructing Al Burooj project in Egypt
Abu Dhabi Capital Group announced on Monday that it would begin implementing its EGP 40 bn Al Burooj residential project, Al Shorouk reports. The project will be constructed over 5 mn square meters and aims to provide nearly 50,000 jobs. (Read in Arabic)

TOURISM

HOTAC says it could offer EGP 1.8 bn project
The Holding Company for Tourism and Hotels (HOTAC) could offer an EGP 1.8 bn project to real estate developers and tourism investors, said company Chairman Mervat Hataba. The project, located at an area called Ras Galala, would a total area of 800k sqm and include a four-star hotel with a capacity of 884 rooms, 1,228 apartments, a tourist housing project comprised of 1,873 units, and a commercial project over an area of 16,000 sqm. The project could be completed within three years, said Hataba. The company is currently preparing project feasibility studies for investors, she added. (Read in Arabic)

AUTOMOTIVE + TRANSPORTATION

Alstom to begin EUR 100 mn railway signal installation project in July
Alstom will begin implementing an electric railway signal system from Beni Suef to Assiut in July, Alstom Egypt’s Transport Managing Director Khaled Wagih told Al Shorouk. The project has a contract value of EUR 100 mn and Alstom spent 10 months designing it, Wagih said, expecting it to be completed over four years and to involve laying 250 km of cables. He added that the railway electric signalling projects are being financed by a USD 330 mn World Bank loan, the rest of which will be used to extend the electric signals southward to Naga Hammady. (Read in Arabic)

Electricity Ministry contracts three companies to install cables for third Metro line
The Ministerial Economic Committee approved agreements signed between Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) and Energya Power Cables, Egyptec Communication Network & Cables, and an Egyptian-Chinese company to install 220 kV power cables to link a number of stations as part of the third Metro line, Al Borsa reports. The committee also allowed EETC to finalize agreements with El Sewedy Electric to install 358-km-long transmission lines. (Read in Arabic)

BANKING + FINANCE

Banque Misr looks to shore up FX base with EUR 300 mn syndicated loan
Banque Misr is in talks for a EUR 300 mn syndicated loan from “a foreign financial institution,” Banque Misr said, according to Reuters. “The negotiations come within the framework of increasing hard currency resources at the bank. The negotiations are due to be complete six months from now, at most,” Bank Misr Chairman Mohamed Mahmoud El Etreby said. El Etreby did not reveal the banks involved in the negotiations. (Read)

NBE negotiates three agreements worth EGP 350 mn with Social Fund for Development
The National Bank of Egypt is negotiating three agreements worth a total of EGP 350 mn with the Social Fund for Development, said head of the SME division Saad Mohyeldeen. The agreements are divided into EGP 200 mn for SMEs, EGP 100 mn for microenterprises, and EGP 50 mn for current activities, he added. The current NBE SME portfolio has reached EGP 1 bn, with the bank targeting a portfolio of EGP 65 bn within the next four years. (Read in Arabic)

NBE extends loans worth EGP 400 mn to three leasing companies
NBE approved loans for three leasing companies for a total of EGP 400 mn, board member Yehia Abu El Fotouh said on Monday, Amwal Al Ghad reports. NBE also approved credit facilities worth EGP 300 mn for an unnamed car manufacturing factory. (Read in Arabic)

EGYPT POLITICS + ECONOMICS

Export subsidy fund must increase to EGP 10 bn, says FEI head
The export subsidy fund must be increased to EGP 10 bn from its current EGP 3.6 bn, said Federation of Egyptian Industries head Mohamed El Sewedy. In an interview with Al Mal that largely lauded government trade policies, El Sewedy also called on the CBE to eliminate all restrictions on deposits and withdrawals on the industry sector. (Read in Arabic)

33 judges forced retirement for aligning with Islamist president Morsi
The Egyptian High Council of Justice’s forced 33 judges into retirement on Monday due to their engagement in politics, more specifically for signing a statement at Raba’a Square supporting Islamist president Mohamed Morsi after his ouster in 2013, Ahram Online reports. Aswat Masriya has coverage in Arabic. Naturally, the foreign press picked up the news, with AFP putting the number at 32 instead of 33 judges and quoting Middle East and North Africa director at ICJ Said Benarbia as saying, “The intensity of Egypt’s attacks against individual judges is reaching a frightening level.” The decision cannot be appealed.

ON YOUR WAY OUT

Some 40 workers were reportedly injured after a fire broke out at a Cadbury plant in the Tenth of Ramadan industrial zone of on Monday night, AMAY reports. Witnesses say the fire first broke out at the factory’s boilers, which caused an explosion.

CALENDAR

29-31 March 2016 (Tuesday-Thursday): Future Rail and Metro Egypt, Cairo.

04 April 2016: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman visits Cairo.

07-10 April 2016 (Thursday-Sunday): Cityscape Egypt Conference, Cairo International Convention Centre, Cairo

13-16 April 2016 (Wednesday-Saturday): Cafex, Cairo.

17 April 2016: German economic delegation visits Cairo.

25 April 2016 (Monday): Sinai Liberation Day (national holiday)

26-28 April (Tuesday-Thursday): Arabian Hotel Investment Conference, The Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.

01 May (Sunday): Easter Holiday / Labour Day (national holiday)

02 May (Monday): Sham El Nessim (national holiday)

02-03 May (Monday-Tuesday): The Middle East Investment Summit 2016, Ritz-Carlton DIFC, Dubai.

10 May (Tuesday): Business News Foundation’s Third Annual Energy Conference: Energy and Sustainable Development, InterContinental Hotel Citystars Cairo. Register here.

16-17 May (Monday-Tuesday): Egyptian-Bahraini committee meets, Cairo.

25-26 May (Wednesday-Thursday): The Middle East and North Africa Solar Conference and Expo MENASOL 2016, Hyatt Regency, Dubai.

06 October (Thursday): Armed Forces Day (national holiday)

27 November 2016 (Sunday): 2016 Cairo ICT Conference Group

04-06 December 2016 (Sunday-Tuesday): Solar-Tec Conference, Cairo International Convention Centre, Cairo