The Health Ministry thinks it knows best what the private sector should charge for healthcare services

It is the first day of August. Do any of you happen to have any idea why this year is passing so quickly? We have a couple of weeks of earnings season ahead of us, then the Eid Al-Adha break at month’s end and into the first week of September — and a very pleasant scattering of long weekends throughout this fall.

And we have tons of news to kickstart the new month, from the Health Ministry’s bid to regulate pricing at private hospitals to the new bread subsidy system, a new lockup period for certain investors in an IPO, the ECA wanting signoff power on M&As, and Mohamed Alabbar looking to (maybe) sink some capital into the New Administrative Capital after all. And that’s just for starters. Read on:

The new bread subsidy system comes into effect today. Bakers and millers will pay forinputs at market prices in advance rather than be given access to subsidized wheat and flour with which to work. Millers will then charge bakers market price for flour, while bakers participating in the bread subsidy system will continue to sell loaves at EGP 0.05 per piece and then invoice the state for the difference. Al Masry Al Youm has the story, citing Supply Ministry spokesperson Mamdouh Ramadan, who says that a tonne of flour will now set bakeries back around EGP 4,700. To celebrate the new system, some 2,500 bakers from Sharqiya began an open-ended strike yesterday, Al Mal reports. Bakers in other governorates, including Gharbiya, are equally disgruntled with the new system and are threatening to partially shut down production, Ahram Gate reports.

Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy is expected to hold a press conference on Thursday to discuss changes to the smart card and bread point systems.

Founders, “strategic” investors, private-equity types, HNWIs and some PMs may want to listen up: We rather hope we’re reading this the wrong way, but it seems to us that EFSA wants to force investors who take substantial minority stakes during the IPO of an EGX company to stick around for a minimum two-year period. The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority handed down amendments last week to the listing regulations under which shareholders who take positions equivalent to 25% or more of a company during an IPO will face a two-year lockup on 51% of their stake. The provision was included in a package of changes that was primarily focused on tightening penalties for non-compliance with listing regs.

Pictet Asset Management’s emerging markets consumer confidence index has hit its highest level in 24 years, according to FT. The index collects data from 25 countries. While both the US and Europe have seen a rise in consumer sentiment, the sluggish rise in consumption and growth in EM suggests potential for a run.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will be heading to Khartoum on Wednesday at the head of a high-ranking delegation set to meet with a number of Sudanese officials, Al Shorouk reports, citing Sudan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qaribullah Khedr. We’re expecting Khartoum’s ban on Egyptian agricultural imports to feature heavily in discussions. In the run-up to the talks, Egyptian security forces have reportedly arrested and will deport 100 undocumented Sudanese nationals who have allegedly been illegally living and working in the city of Shalateen.

The law regulating the repossession of land seized under the government’s campaign to reclaim illegally occupied land is expected to come into effect this week, according to statements last week from Prime Minister Sherif Ismail.

4G mobile data services are expected to officially launch by mid-August. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry plans to present the Universal Healthcare Act to the Prime Minister in two weeks’ time. The ministry is also expected to recommend in a report to the House that the vast majority of some 1,400 high-volume meds rise in price.

Price controls on private healthcare and Emaar’s possible investment in the new capital were among the highlights of interesting night on the airwaves.

The Health Ministry is still set on imposing price controls on private sector healthcarethrough a bill we first heard about last month. That was the message senior ministry official Ali Mahrous relayed to Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi, who praised the move. Mahrous said the bill would impose caps that would be based on a ministry-imposed “tiering” of healthcare facilities. The proposal would divide hospitals into five brackets based on quality of the service provided. Mahrous fell just short of calling the current pricing schemes of private hospitals and clinics “fraudulent” to justify the move.

Was the private sector consulted on any of this? Of course not. But Mahrous appeared to suggest that the Health Ministry wants to launch a (you guessed it) “national dialogue,” with the assumption being that it has now started with this show (watch, runtime 5:02).

Emaar Chairman Mohamed Alabbar’s renewed interest in Egypt (more on that in the Speed Round) was the highlight of Kol Youm’s Amr Adib’s interview with Investment Minister Sahar Nasr. She tells the host that Alabbar’s appetite would not have been whet without legislative reforms such as the Investment Act. Nasr added that the Investment Act executive regulations could receive the final nod from the cabinet’s economic group as early as next Wednesday (watch, runtime 5:03).

From that high, Adib sunk back to his usual low of discussing Qatar, delving into theemergency air corridor provided for Qatar with Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy. Fathy stressed that Qatari planes are still barred from landing at any of the Arab quartet’s airports (watch, runtime 6:19). Fathy also discussed Hajj ticket prices, saying that expensive tickets are likely part of high-end packages (watch, runtime 5:03).

EgyptAir CEO and Chairman Sherif Ezzat was also busy defending the airline’s pricing, telling Sada El Balad’s Ahmed Moussa that the ticket prices were set months ago through a specialized committee. According to Ezzat, the steep increase is a result of the EGP float (watch, runtime 22:01).

ECA to introduce bill on oversight of M&A within the next few months: The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) plans to introduce legislation within the coming two months that would require its stamp of approval on M&A transactions, ECA boss Mona El Garf said at a press conference on Monday.

Not all transactions will be subject to scrutiny by the regulator — reviews would be triggered at an as-yet undecided transaction size that El Garf said will likely be over EGP 100 mn. She did imply that smaller transactions may be required to receive approval at some point in the future. “Egypt is the only country in the Arab world and Africa where antitrust regulators do not have oversight authority on M&As,” said El Garf. As it stands, M&As larger than EGP 100 mn require the ECA be informed, but not its approval. The amendments, which were due in March, will be sent to the Trade and Industry Ministry in a month and a half for input, El Garf added, according to Al Shorouk.

EGX, EFSA are moving to eliminate FX restrictions on GDR sales: The EGX’s newly constituted board of directors approved on Sunday the removal of restrictions that force the proceeds of global depository receipt sales be converted to EGP before being distributed to beneficiaries, according to Al Borsa. Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) head Sherif Samy said on Sunday that EFSA’s board will be removing the restrictions “in the coming days.” The regulations were put in place back in 2012 and tightened in 2015 at the height of the FX crunch. Meanwhile, the EGX has reportedly formed its new listing committee, according to Al Mal.

Is outgoing EGX head Mohamed Omran in line to head EFSA? Word on the grapevine is that Mohamed Omran, who will officially leave his post as EGX chairman on 6 August, will be heading EFSA — or so sources tell Daily News Egypt. The newspaper is also claiming that Mohamed Farid, who previously served as vice chairman of the EGX, has been tapped by Investment Minister Sahar Nasr to head up the bourse. The newspaper claims to have been told that Prime Minister Sherif Ismail will officially announce the appointment of Farid within the week. As we have heard nothing recent on whether current EFSA boss Sherif Samy will continue in office, we urge readers to take the news with a grain of salt until something official comes along.

Possible compromise between CBE and FEB on CBE and banking acts? Talks between the central bank and the Federation of Egyptian Banks (FEB) on Sunday over controversial amendments to the CBE and Banking acts appear to be heading towards a compromise on some articles, sources tell Al Borsa.

The notion that banks be required to kick 5% of their net income into an industry development fund remains controversial for rather obvious reasons, but bank MDs are willing in principle to commit to making annual contributions to the fund.

Not yet resolved: Term limits for bank managing directors. As they stand, the proposed amendments do not contain clauses that set term limits, the source said — but they do give the CBE the option to impose them in the executive regulations of the central bank act. Al Borsa reports that the FEB raised no objections to the creation of mechanisms which would allow for “the injection of new blood” into leadership positions, but we don’t expect a quick compromise on the term limits issue so long as it’s left up to the CBE’s discretion in the executive regs.

The meeting reportedly saw headway on the central bank’s power to appoint members ofa bank’s board of directors. The CBE and the FEB worked out an arrangement by which the central bank will only be allowed to sit on board meetings in “particular and special circumstances.”

Bankers raised no objection to expanding the power of the CBE governor at the expense of the CBE’s board, Al Borsa claims.

Issues that remain to be ironed out reportedly include a proposal that the CBE governor’s appointment not be subject to confirmation in the House of Representatives and the penalties set for violations of the two acts.

Egypt’s external debt climbed 32.5% y-o-y to USD 73.9 bn in 9M2016-17, according to data from the central bank. M2 moneysupply rose 39.4% y-o-y during FY2016-17 to EGP 2.9 tn by the end of June, the CBE also said, according to Reuters.

Emaar Chairman Mohamed Alabbar has appetite for new opportunities in Egypt — and may once again be looking at investing in the New Administrative Capital. Also on the high-profile real estate and retail guru’s list: New Alamein, Cairo, and South Sinai, according to a statement from the Investment Ministry. Alabbar expressed interest during a meeting with Minister Sahar Nasr, but no further detail was disclosed. Alabbar’s Capital City Partners had been tapped during the EEDC to build what was to be called The Capital Cairo, but the agreement began falling apart in the summer of 2015. Anything that would see Alabbar return in force to Omm El Donia would be most welcome.

BPE Partners has reportedly decided not to participate in an Education Ministry tender to build 200 schools under a PPP framework, an unconfirmed report in Al Mal said yesterday. Feasibility studies conducted after BPE was shortlisted revealed that the EGP 3 bn project is not in sync with the company’s current strategy, sources tell the newspaper. Orascom Construction, Al Maadaen Holding, Carillion, and a consortium led by the UK’s Bridge Capital were also among those shortlisted for the project.

SODIC and Vodafone Egypt will offer a package of internet and smart-home services at all SODIC developments, according to a joint press release (pdf). The new service, branded SODIC GoSmart, will be powered by Vodafone and give homeowners at SODIC developments access to high-speed internet, surveillance, and home automation services. “SODIC is very well-known for applying the highest quality standards in developing its diversified project portfolio,” SODIC Managing Director Magued Sherif said. “We equipped our projects with the most advanced technology infrastructure, which enables us to introduce the latest solutions to cater to our customers’ needs.”

Subsidy cuts drive down food consumption: 34% of Egyptians have begun curbing their consumption of various consumer goods, most notably food, as a result of the recent fuel and electricity subsidy cuts, according to a poll the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion (Baseera) released yesterday (pdf). 84% of those polled also said that their monthly expenditures have seen a jump. Nearly two thirds of respondents said they see a correlation between the lifting of fuel and electricity subsidies and the increase in prices of other commodities, and 66% said they do not approve of the subsidy cuts. The poll notes that dissatisfaction with the decision is more prevalent among young respondents, 80% of whom said they do not approve, while those aged above 50 were split more or less down the middle. 68% of lower-income respondents disapproved of the subsidy cuts, compared to 62% of high-income respondents.

Qatar filed yesterday a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the “trade boycott” imposed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain, Reuters reports. “By formally ‘requesting consultations’ with the three countries, the first step in a trade dispute, Qatar triggered a 60 day deadline for them to settle the complaint or face litigation at the WTO and potential retaliatory trade sanctions.” Ostensibly absent from the list of countries whose boycott Doha is challenging is Egypt, but Qatar’s WTO representative Ali Alwaleed al-Thani tells the newswire that “obviously all options are available.”

Meanwhile, Israel is jumping on the anti-Al Jazeera bandwagon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his communications minister to look into shutting down the network, which he says “does not cease to incite to violence around the Temple Mount,” Arutz Sheva reports.

Italy and France sent a warning to Turkey about the Cypriot gas drilling dispute, Euractiv reports. Italian Minister of Defence Roberta Pinotti visited Cyprus and included statements about French warships in the area as a warning to Turkey. Turkey doesn’t recognize the Cypriot right of drilling in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) after peace talks between Turkish and Greek sides of the nation fell apart in early July. Approximately 4k bcm of natural gas have been found in Eastern Mediterranean EEZs in the last few years, and exploration has increased lately. Previous analysis has claimed the Turkish government is using the issue to score political points locally and that this play is disrupting exploration in the entire region.

Hotel of Doom gets a makeover: North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel, commonly known as Hotel of Doom, got a makeover, according to the Associated Press. The renovations showed “two broad new walkways leading to the building and the big red propaganda sign declaring that North Korea is a leading rocket power.” The hotel was “little more than an embarrassing concrete shell for well over a decade” before Orascom Group helped pay for work to complete building its exterior in 2011, the piece notes. Orascom Telecom Media and Technology had to write off the fair value of its mobile operator in North Korea, Koryolink, in 2015, as its auditor was “not able to verify the fair value that will be recovered at the balance sheet date.” The company also exited a banking venture in the hermit country in December 2016.

Other international headlines worth a skim this morning:

• How to lose a guy in 10 days: US President Donald Trump fired recently appointed White House communications director and former Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci just over a week into his role, Reuters reports. The Donald’s new chief of staff, John Kelly, reportedly demanded The Mooch be axed after he “attacked then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, in profanity-laden terms” in comments to The New Yorker.
• Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics, swapping the 2024 games withParis, Reuters reports. The agreement between the two cities “turned the spotlight on security challenges facing the French capital while giving Los Angeles, which last hosted the Olympics 33 years ago, ample time to upgrade its public transportation system.”
• UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s office has said that free movement for European Union citizens will end in 2019, Reuters reports.

Cross-border M&A activity is on the rise in MENA, according to a report by Baker McKenzie Cross Border Index. The report looks at inbound activity first and finds that KSA and the UAE Account for the lion’s share, with 40 transactions between them. Outbound activity follows a similar pattern: the UAE leading with 58 acquisitions, Qatar nabbing 21 and KSA 16. The article takes note of Saudi’s Public Investment Fund acquiring a 5.6% stake in Uber as one of the high profile moves out of the region. While oil finding its new lower range is putting a damper on government spending, the lawyers suggest that in the long run this will encourage M&A through the need to diversify away from traditional sectors. There is a limit on assets available however, which is creating frothy valuations because of higher outside demand. One of the other pitfalls in MENA is how much more difficult it is to exit an investment than the West.

Looking to the future, the three trends to watch in MENA M&A include new avenues opened by tech; economic diversification in countries including Saudi; and outside private equity firms attracted to the MENA growth story.

A Beni Suef woman has had to dress as a man to make ends meet for her family after her husband became unable to work due to a disability, Al Arabiya reports, making this something of a meme in Egyptian (social) media. According to the report, Bahia Soliman, who has three children under the age of nine, took over working her husband’s motor tricycle, donning men’s clothing and going by the name Bakar. Beni Suef’s governor is providing Soliman and her family with home appliances, in addition to financial aid to help her pay off some of her family’s debts.

It is, friends, a blessedly slow news day for Egypt in the international press. Fingers crossed that it lasts.

The bread subsidy system is in dire need of reform that can no longer be postponed, particularly considering how much of the state’s resources are directed towards sustaining the system, Abdelnaby El Shahhat writes for Youm7. Between graft at smart card manufacturers and the widespread corruption within the system’s institutions, Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy has his work cut out for him, El Shahhat says. Al Masry Al Youm’s Hamdy Rizk agrees that the subsidy system is in need of reform, but rebukes El Moselhy for what he sees as a Marie Antoinette-esque attitude that belittles citizens’ reliance on subsidized bread. Rizk warns that Egypt’s poor subsist largely on subsidized bread, and calls on El Moselhy to direct his reform efforts to weeding out moochers and curbing black market activity.

Egypt and Mexico agreed to establish a joint investment council, Investment and International Cooperation Ministry Sahar Nasr said in a Monday statement (pdf). The agreement came during a meeting between Nasr and Mexico’s ambassador to Cairo, Octavio Tripp.

EGAS has granted three unnamed companies preliminary approvals on their requests to import natural gas privately and pump it through the national pipeline network, said EGAS Vice Chairman Amira El Mazni, according to Al Borsa. Five companies had bid to import natural gas privately, including Dolphinus Holdings — rumored to have been in talks to import gas from Israel’s Tamar gas field — and TAQA Arabia. Licenses to import gas will come once the Ismail cabinet approves the executive regulations of the Natural Gas Act. The regs are expected to be completed by September.

The Electricity Ministry is not planning to issue any new tenders for solar power projects until it completes ongoing ones under the feed-in tariff (FiT) program, Minister Mohamed Shaker said on Monday, according to Al Borsa. Shaker expects energy companies working on projects under phase two to reach financial close soon and sign power purchase agreements before the end of October. We noted last week that 10 solar companies signed PPAs with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company after reaching financial close with various international funding institutions.

Saipem and Petrobel have finalized engineering, procurement, construction and installation contracts worth USD 900 mn of Eni’s gas field Zohr’s development. The project includes the installation of a gas export pipeline, a service pipeline, and work for the field development in deep water of four wells and the installation of umbilicals. Work on the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

The government completed EGP 5.4 bn-worth of water infrastructure projects in July, Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Monday, according to AMAY.

Egypt’s wheat import bill is set to increase by EGP 3 bn from projected in the FY2017-18, a Finance Ministry source told Al Mal. The expected increase follows the Supply Ministry’s revised projection of having to import 7 mn tonnes of wheat during the fiscal year, from the 6.2 mn tonnes projected initially. Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy had said the Ministry plans on importing 6 mn tonnes of wheat for actual consumption and the remaining 1 mn tonnes will go towards building strategic reserves. A few days earlier, Reuters had taken note that Egypt was buying “unprecedented” volumes on the international market, which a source said was designed to counter a drop in domestic supplies of wheat.

Farmers are complaining of a shortage in irrigation water in Kafr El Sheikh, Sharqiya, Daqahliyah, Minya, and Menoufiya, Al Mal reports. The government is conducting restoration works on water conduit bridges which has restricted water flow, Farmers Union head Mohamed Farag says. Another reason behind the shortage is the seasonal scarcity that typically accompanies the cultivation of water-intensive summer crops. A committee of top officials from the ministries of agriculture and irrigation will be convening this week to discuss the issue and a national water resource management strategy that extends to 2037 is also in the works, according to Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Hamed Abdel Dayem.

The Environment Ministry signed off yesterday on the environmental impact assessment for a new phosphate and compound fertilizers manufacturing complex at the Ain Sokhna Industrial Zone, Al Mal reports. The Defense Ministry’s El-Nasr for Intermediate Chemicals will be developing the project.

Indian garment maker Classic Fashion Apparel is investing EGP 1 bn to establish a new textile factory in Egypt, Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil said on Monday, according to AMAY. The Jordan-based company plans to break ground on the project in January 2018 and begin production later on in the same year. Classic Fashion is currently conducting feasibility studies and surveying Egypt’s different industrial zones before settling on a location for the factory.

Talaat Moustafa Group Holding denied it is planning on buying the Alexandria Airport land plot, according to a bourse disclosure. The company confirmed that CEO Hisham Talaat Moustafa has travelled to Saudi Arabia to discuss cooperation with the Saudi Housing Ministry and that the company is also moving forward with resolving disputes with the New Urban Communities Authority, particularly regarding Madinaty.

Marsa Alam and Al-Quseir have been suffering daily power outages, residents tell Al Masry Al Youm. While Al-Quseir is connected to Safaga with a low power line, the consumption of the city has surpassed its capacity. Marsa Alam suffers from the fact that its power stations often malfunction and the solar plant there lacks the capacity to store power overnight, resulting in nightly outages. Citizens from the area have sent a plea to the Minister of Electricity Mohammed Shaker.

Internet service providers are only willing to partially foot the bill for the 14% value-added tax on their services if Telecom Egypt (TE) agrees to lower its infrastructure rent fees, an unnamed company executive tells Al Mal. Infrastructure rent fees account for 80% of customer’s’ monthly internet bills, he explained. We had noted before that data packages are set to cost more in September, when the VAT costs get passed on to the consumer.

The Roads and Bridges Authority suspended GoBus’ license after six died in an accident Friday,The Egypt Independent writes. The measure, announced by president of the authority Adel Turk, was taken as a precaution to allow time for an investigation of the safety standards of the company. However, in a conflicting report by Al Borsa, GoBus head Maher Nassif the head of the firm denied receiving official word of the suspension. He added that GoBus will be paying out EGP 100K to the families of the deceased and taking care of hospital bills for the injured.

Ride-hailing app Careem invested USD 10 mn in Egypt since it opened shop here, Careem Egypt COO Ramy Kato says, according to Al Borsa. Careem Egypt is also studying investment opportunities in e-commerce. Careem invested USD 500k earlier this month in Swvl, a three-month-old Egyptian bus transportation service.

The costs of upgrading the freight line connecting Egypt’s biggest phosphate mine at Abu Tartur to Safaga port looks set to increase to USD 300 mn from an initial estimate of USD 89.6 mn, Transportation Minister Hisham Arafat said, Al Shorouk reports.

The House of Representatives’ Tourism and Aviation Committee is planning on calling Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi over for a hearing on the power outage at Cairo International Airport’s Terminal 3 earlier this week, the committee’s deputy chair Ahmed Idris tells Al Mal. The Prosecutor General had ordered the arrest of 11 people over the incident. The power outage happened as a high-level delegation from Russia’s Transport Ministry was inspecting security procedures at the airport, notes the newspaper.

Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek referred four former chairmen of the organization that publishes state-newspaper Al Ahram to criminal court on Monday on graft charges, Ahram Online reports. “The former CEOs accused in the case are Ibrahim Nafie, Salah El Ghamry, Morsi Atallah, and Abdel Moneim Said,” according to the newspaper.

The Illicit Gains Authority has to clear former Supply Minister Khaled Hanafy of allegations he was involved in graft, a judicial source tells Al Shorouk. The authority has not summoned the former minister as of yet, the source says. Hanafy had claimed earlier this week that he was acquitted of all charges of illicit gains, but said he hadn’t received official word from the authority.

Egypt will not build a military base on Bahrain’s Hewar islands, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed said, according to Egypt Independent. Bin Ahmed says the two armies continue to work together and noted that annual joint training programs are ongoing.

The British Embassy is partnering with Flat6Labs to launch a hackathon for entrepreneurs, Mareeg reports. The competition looks for solutions that are both innovative and business friendly with the focus this year on recycling, energy and sustainable farming. The top 10 teams of 3-5 people will be given two days of mentoring to develop their ideas before presenting them to a panel. Flat6Labs is a startup accelerator that operates across MENA and has invested in 54 Egyptian startups thus far.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is defraying the cost of hajj trips this year for 1,000 families of Egyptian police and armed forces members killed in the line of duty