Business confidence at 26-month high –PMI

Three things we see driving newsflow today:

1) In Egypt, the first full day of the World Youth Forum. The sheer concentration of Egyptian politicos and business figures in one place will guarantee flow. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi spoke at the opening ceremony last night in Sharm El Sheikh, Al Masry Al Youm reports. Dignitaries from some 64 nations will be attending. Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil also tells us that a number of economic agreements will be signed during the WYF. The forum’s sessions will begin today; you can view the full agenda here (pdf). We have a bit more in Last Night’s Talk Shows, below.

2) The fallout from what is being cast as a purge in Saudi led by Mohamed bin Salman is at (or near) the top of the global business news agenda. The talking heads have reacted poorly to the arrest of Alwaleed bin Talal (shocking, we know) and are openly questioning how investors will react. Some have openly suggested it might be bad for the Aramco IPO. It’s also had an impact here at home, with the EGX30 closing down 1% in light trading (volumes were about 9% below the trailing 90-day average). Shares of real estate developer TMG, which had tied itself to the Saudi bandwagon, plunged, as did shares of Al Baraka Bank, which is majority owned by Sheikh Saleh Kamel, a prominent Saudi investor in Egypt. We have more in Speed Round, below.

3) The House of Representatives is back in session today now that speaker Ali Abdel Aal & Co. are back from Amreeka. Among the many items up for discussion is a draft bill banning the import, manufacturing, selling or possession of drones without permits. Punishment for violators could reach the death penalty, especially if the drone is used for a terrorist attack, House National Security Committee member Khaled Abou Taleb tells Asharq Al Awsat.

The central bank announced yesterday that net foreign reserves grew to USD 36.703 bn as of the end of October, from USD 36.535 bn in September.

EFG Hermes’ 7th Annual London Conference kicks off today and runs through Thursday. The conference will bring C-suite execs from top listed companies in MENA as well as frontier markets (among them Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) face-to-face with top global investors with mandates to invest in emerging and frontier markets. The event takes place at Emirates Arsenal Stadium in London.

The Egyptian-Chinese Economic Forum launches today in Cairo, bringing investors and executives from major Chinese firms together with members of the Egyptian business community. A delegation of high-ranking Chinese officials is expected in attendance, Ahram Gate says.

Speaking of China: The exit of US Fed boss Janet Yellen has pundits wondering now whether the People’s Bank of China will see its governor replaced. There are no concrete signs that Governor Zhou Xiaochuan will leave his post. Word of his exit has begun to float since 2013, when he hit the age of retirement (65). Zhou himself had also hinted at possible retirement. Either way, Bloomberg sees that we won’t really get clarity until National People’s Congress Standing Committee meets in December, and we won’t know for sure until next March.

Human rights lawyer Khaled Ali is expected to declare his intention to run in next year’s presidential elections at a press conference today. The potential candidate has been convicted for public indecency, with hearings on his appeal due set to start on Wednesday.

Fellow early riser: We’re not big fans of US morning ‘news’ shows (the original American edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box excepted), but we have an affinity for anyone who wakes at an ungodly hour of the morning to create a news product. CBS morning host Norah O’Donnell, who typically wakes up at 4am or a bit earlier is the latest celeb to be profiled in the Wall Street Journal’s rather cool (almost) weekly weekend exercise column. Also worth checking out, given the season: Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara’s “diabolical routine for keeping up with guys half his age.”

Prefer to take a pill rather than exercise? The New Yorker’s A Pill to Make Exercise Obsoletefound one that claims to confer “the beneficial effects of exercise without the need to move a muscle.” Whether you’re a workout fiend or a sci-geek, the story is absolutely worth reading.

The Central Bank of Egypt will review interest rates a week from Thursday when its Monetary Policy Committee convenes. Our take: Expect no rate cut before MPC’s 28 December meeting, by which time a year of post-float inflation data will be in the bag. With inflation on a still-declining trend (remember: ain’t the same thing as deflation, folks), it will be politically acceptable to declare that the war on inflation is being won and that some relief on rates will be appropriate. That also feeds nicely into the narrative heading into a presidential election cycle.

Egypt is on track to issue its first electronic visa in December as part of the rollout of a number of e-government services at the Cairo ICT expo running from 3-6 December. The e-visa had been slated for a May implementation but was met with stiff resistance from many in the tourism industry who viewed it as another barrier to tourists’ return.

Much like the rest of the domestic press yesterday, the airwaves were saturated with coverage of the World Youth Forum that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi inaugurated in Sharm El Sheikh last night. These included:

• Kol Youm’s Amr Adib piled on the praise, saying the event gave Egypt the opportunity to show itself in a different light, particularly since recent terror attacks have painted a negative picture (watch, runtime 3:37).
• Hona Al Asema’s correspondent in Sharm El Sheikh gave Lamees Al Hadidi a rundown of the forum’s agenda, including the topics that will be tackled at each of the sessions — including using demographics to achieve economic development, immigration, and artificial intelligence (watch, runtime 4:46).
• Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer, who set up shop in Sharm El Sheikh, talked to the forum’s general coordinator, Amr Essam about the preparations that went into the event. The Foreign Ministry played a key role in the lead-up by promoting the event abroad.
• Masaa’ DMC, meanwhile, dedicated the majority of last night’s episode to a livestream of the conference (watch, runtime 4:42).

Meanwhile, Saudi writer Saleh Al Zahran phoned in to give Lamees an insider’s take on the arrests of several Saudi princes and current and former cabinet ministers as part of the kingdom’s ‘crackdown on corruption.’ Al Zahran said that the assets currently under investigation are valued at a total of SAR 2 tn (watch, runtime 10:21). Maybe good for a down payment on Neom?

The host looked at how the EGX was hit yesterday by fallout from the purge in KSA. The impact has naturally hit companies with business ties to Saudi officials swept by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s power move, said Osoul Brokerage’s Managing Director Ehab Saeed, who told Lamees that Talaat Moustafa Group Holding had the biggest effect on the bourse’s overall performance. Baraka Bank’s shares took the biggest hit since Saudi Sheikh Saleh Kamel — who was among those arrested —owns 73% of the bank (watch, runtime 3:06).

Lamees also spoke to Khattar Abu Diab, a professor of international politics at Université Paris-Sud for a rundown on what’s up with Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Turkey (watch, runtime 6:00).

Business confidence in Egypt hit a 26-month high, “signalling strong optimism towards future growth prospects, with many expecting economic stability over the coming year,” according to October’s reading of the Emirates NBD PMI. Contractions in output, new orders, and employment all eased, the report showed even though they were “muted in comparison to the historical average.” The reading also showed softening in both output and input price inflation. “Job shedding among Egyptian non-oil private sector companies continued in October, thereby extending the current sequence of contraction to 29 months. Anecdotal evidence suggested a trend of firms not replacing retiring employees. That said, the rate of decline eased in the latest survey.” The reading of 48.4 in October increased from September’s 47.4, and came as “export orders increased on average last month, after declining in September. Encouragingly, business optimism in October was the highest in more than two years,” Khatija Haque, Head of MENA Research at Emirates NBD, commented.

More companies raising equity to retire debt: Mall of Egypt owner Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Group has notified banks it is looking to begin the process to repay EGP 3 bn in loans ahead of schedule, Al Mal reports. MAF obtained the funding in 2014 from a consortium of 11 banks led by Banque Misr and National Bank of Egypt to cover 85% of Mall of Egypt’s development cost, with the first installment set to be repaid in early next year and the rest over six years. The central bank has raised interest rates by 700 bps since then. MAF will be looking to repay the loan either using funding from its parent company or from the proceeds of a capital increase.

… By Al Mal’s count, five companies are now in the process of repaying loans ahead of schedule to avoid the current environment of high interest rates. Besides MAF, the paper notes that Cleopatra Hospitals Group is repaying EGP 120 mn ahead of schedule. Sinai Cement is looking to retire EGP 564 mn in debt using the proceeds of a capital increase. Misr Cement is also raising EGP 301.22 mn in capital to repay borrowing and fund expansions. Kafr El Zayat Pesticides and Chemicals is also following suit, with the intention to raise EGP 40 mn in capital to reduce its borrowing.

Orange Egypt’s board approves major capital increase through additional share issuance: Orange Egypt’s board of directors approved a capital increase yesterday, according to a bourse disclosure. The telco will be raising issued capital to EGP 16.4 bn from EGP 1 bn, and authorized capital to EGP 20 bn from EGP 2 bn through a share issuance that will give priority to existing shareholders, with the subscription price set at the share’s nominal value. Orange has sustained heavy losses over the past year on the back of the EGP float, and rising inflation and interest rates, as well as the costs associated with the 4G rollout.

In related news, ASCOM Geology and Mining’s board of directors also signed off on a EGP 250 mn capital increase to EGP 700 mn.

IPO WATCH- A group of 12 Gulf and international institutions have reportedly been allocated stakes equivalent to 53% of Dice Sport and Casual Wear as part of the company’s ongoing IPO, taking all of the 28.089 mn shares in the institutional offering, Al Mal reports. Rasmala and EFG Hermes are among those who took positions, unidentified sources tell the newspaper. Dice had announced on Saturday that it has priced its offering of ordinary shares on the EGX at EGP 22.60, and that its institutional offering was 3.1x oversubscribed.

Online retailer Jumia Egypt and online grocery delivery specialist Knock Mart will launch together Jumia Fresh, an online groceries and household goods portal, Al Masry Al Youm reports. The partnership will allow the companies to offer fresh food products online and support SME partners, Knock Mart’s CEO and founder Ahmed Taher says. Taher notes that Knock Mart’s growth is coming from serving its clients effectively, particularly those living in remote areas. Knock Mart has also reportedly submitted a bid to acquire Qalaa Holdings’ Dina Farms supermarket chain.

To save us here at Enterprise a keystroke, the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) has rebranded itself (in English only) to FRA. The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority — EFSA — announced yesterday that it has changed its English-language name to the Financial Regulatory Authority, or the FRA. The authority will be working to make the change official over the coming weeks on its documents and website. (Snark aside, this kinda makes sense, we think.)

Also yesterday, the FRA formed a consulting committee made up of industry experts to aid in the capital market development strategy, Al Borsa says. In addition to amendments to the Capital Markets Act, the government has also been working on making new financial instruments available to investors, including a commodities exchange, sukuk, short-selling, and secondary bond markets.

Favorable weather conditions are giving Egyptian lemon producers a head start going into the official growing season and some producers have volumes ready for export, the Egyptian Moroccan company’s Ahmed Rabie writes for Fresh Plaza. “One problem is that most European traders aren’t even aware that limes exist in Egypt. They usually opt for limes from Argentina and Mexico,” Rabie says. He also notes that competition from producers domestically is also fierce as exporters try to lock in market share in Europe.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi sat down for two one-on-one interviews yesterday, according to an Ittihadiya statement. Egyptian-Saudi relations were the focal point of El Sisi’s interview with Asharq Alawsat newspaper, the statement says. With business news outlet CNBC, the president discuss Egypt-US relations, the upcoming presidential race, and recent improvements in economy and tourism. El Sisi also told CNBC that the World Youth Forum (WYF) taking place in Sharm El Sheikh is “an exceptional opportunity to build bridges between youth from across the globe.” Neither interview has run as yet.

Will the Saudi anti-corruption probe impact Egypt? As Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman whistles to the tune of the Lion King’s “Oh I Just Can’t Wait to be King,” the shakeup at the upper echelons of the royal family continues to have thrown regional business into some measure of confusion, and Egypt is no exception.

TMG hit: The arrest of bn’aire investor Alwaleed Bin Talal appears to have cast a shadow over a potential USD 800 mn partnership with Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) on the development of hotels in Al Alamein and Sharm El Sheikh. The future of the agreement is now uncertain, TMG officials tell Al Borsa on Sunday. TMG shares closed down 4.3% on the EGX yesterday.

Baraka Bank shares are took a dive, closing down 7.25%. Saudi Sheikh Saleh Kamel, a prominent investor in Egypt who owns c. 73% of the bank, was among those arrested in the kingdom.

No impact on Egypt? Statements from the Egyptian side of the Egyptian-Saudi Business Council have been positive, saying that the arrests would not impact Saudi investments in Egypt, according to the newspaper. The message was echoed among government officials. The Electricity Ministry issued a statement saying that projects and investments with Saudi partners were ongoing, including linking the electricity grids of both countries, Al Mal reports. The statement sticks to the government’s line on the event that this was a Saudi internal matter.

Will the anti-corruption sweep also affect the Aramco IPO? Beyond Alwaleed and economy minister Adel Fakieh, the anti-corruption probe has also touched former finance minister and Aramco board member Ibrahim Al Assaf, according to Bloomberg. This comes despite no indication of any wrongdoing by Aramco as Al Assaf was reportedly arrested over alleged corrupt links in urban development. Analysts see the move will only strengthen Bin Salman’s push to liberalize the economy, a key component of which is the IPO. Separately, US President Donald Trump urged that Aramco list on the New York Stock Exchange in a tweet on Saturday. "I just spoke to the King a little while ago, and they will consider it," Trump told reporters on route to Japan, according to the FT.

In probably the strangest developments since the announcement of the arrests, the deputy governor of the Saudi province of Asir Prince Mansour bin Muqrin died in a helicopter crash, according to Al Arabiya.

The ‘purge’ in Riyadh continues to dominate headlines in the international press this morning. The Financial Times has a wrap-up and a look at how “the anti-corruption purge triggers investor uncertainty” along with a look at Alwaleed bin Talal as “Mohammed bin Salman aims to win Saudi game of thrones.” The Wall Street Journal’s wrap-up notes that Alwaleed apparently faces money laundering charges and looks at the prince’s investments in US assets, while coverage in the New York Times is led by David Kirkpatrick’s very solid Saudi Crown Prince’s Mass Purge Upends a Longstanding System.

A gunman in Texas has killed at least 26 in an attack on a church overnight, according to CNN. The shooter was “clad in all black, with a ballistic vest strapped to his chest and a military-style rifle in his hands.” The gunman was identified as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, and had apparently served in the US Air Force.

Car manufacturers are branching out from the regular electric car market and into the hypercar segment, according to the FT. While electric cars are generally thought of as sensible, everyday cars that save you gas, a few specialists are producing insanely fast electric cars that rival any gasoline powered sports cars. Companies including Rimac and Detroit Electric are producing quiet cars with more than a 1,000 horsepower while traditional companies such as Jaguar and Mercedes are revamping classic models with an electric twist on them.

A British woman detained in Hurghada for allegedly smuggling 300 opioid pain reliever pills is topping coverage of Egypt in the foreign press this morning. The woman, identified as Laura Plummer, 33, was apparently bringing her Egyptian husband other products from the UK including talcum powder and shaving gel, alongside the opiates, The Guardian says. She “didn’t even check” what the stop-any-disease.com tablets were after she got a prescription for them, Plummer’s brother says, adding that “clearly [she was] very, very naive.” Forget that the most likely thing is that the woman will be deported — the UK tabloid press is bellowing still that she faces “the death penalty” or “25 years in prison.” Because, you know, ignorance is a defence under the law, right?

It could be time for Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza, Haaretz’s editorial board suggests. If the Egypt-brokered agreement between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority attests to the seriousness of the parties’ intentions about reconciliation, it obliges Israel to revisit its policy in the territories – and especially to recognize that the relevance of its blockade of Gaza is diminishing, they write.

On a related note, Hamas has rejected a 2005 agreement that mandates European presence and a measure of Israeli control over the PA-administered Gaza-Egypt border, according to Asharq Al-Awsat. Hamas political bureau member Moussa Abou Marzouq said the agreement has expired and was not a point of negotiation during Egypt-sponsored reconciliation talks.

Zahi Hawass does not like the discovery of a potential “void” in the Khufu pyramid, according to Phys.org. He says the scientists, who made the claim, “showed us their conclusions, and we informed them this is not a discovery … The pyramid is full of voids and that does not mean there is a secret chamber or a new discovery.” Now had Zahi discovered the void, the voice using the regal “we” would be signing a rather different tune.

Lovejacker update: Plane hijacker Seif Eddin Mustafa never asked to see his former wife during the time he hijacked a domestic EgyptAir flight and diverted it to Cyprus, lawyer Nicoletta Charalambidou said, according to Cyprus Mail. The demand “is a myth possibly created and perpetuated by the Cypriot authorities in order to assign a motive other than fear of political persecution to him,” the lawyer says. She adds that Mustafa wanted to hijack a flight and divert it to Italy and “make a statement about the persecution of political beliefs in Egypt and secure the release of women political activists currently in prison there.” The European Court of Human Rights blocked a Cypriot court order to extradite Mustafa to Egypt until its investigators could examine the case.

Also making the rounds this morning:

• Youth Minister Khaled Abd El Aziz met with his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the World Youth Forum in Sharm El Sheikh, according to the Business Standard.
• Carla Masoud chronicles her struggles in Egypt with gender identity and her journey to Germany for reassignment (runtime: 2:03).
• 354 artefacts have been returned to Egypt after being seized by police in the UAE and ordered returned by the ruler of Sharjah, reports the Business Standard.
• International outlets, including Sputnik and Xinhua, took note of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry condemning Houthi rebels’ missile attack on King Khalid International Airport near Riyadh.

Proposed amendments to the Labor Unions Act would dramatically curb the powers and freedoms of unions, which will have serious political and economic ramifications for the country as a whole, Ibrahim Awad says in a column penned for Al Shorouk. Among the bill’s problems is that it will bar unions from receiving “foreign funding,” which he says is a vague stipulation that takes advantage of the current political climate that is wary of foreign meddling, despite funding from trustworthy bodies such as the International Labor Organization falling under the umbrella of foreign funding. The bill furthermore does nothing to protect the political rights of workers.

Awad’s concerns are similar to those of the recently-formed Supreme Council of Independent Labor Unions, which announced at a press conference on Saturday that it rejects the bill altogether, Al Mal reports. Members of the council decried the bill as “unfair,” “unconstitutional,” and one that serves businessmen and the government but works against laborers. The council, which is comprised of 16 unions, was reportedly formed last week due to the “urgent necessity” of uniting unions to protect their freedoms.

The Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Canada yesterday, according to Reuters. The Foreign Ministry said the criticism from the five Western countries regarding the ongoing detention of human rights lawyer Ibrahim Metwaly Hegazy was “a blatant and unacceptable interference in domestic affairs and the work of the judiciary. … It is unfortunate that such a statement would be issued from countries that call for respecting rule of law and the principles of separation of powers.”

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi discussed the recent political developments in Lebanon in a phone call with Lebanese President Michel Aoun and on the sidelines of the World Youth Forum with Lebanese Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, Ittihadiya said. As we noted yesterday, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al Hariri resigned from his position on Saturday, claiming there had been a plot to assassinate him.

Thani Dubai Mining looking to expand Egypt investment: Investment Minister Sahar Nasr met with Al Thani Investments Chairman Abdulla Saeed Al Thani in Cairo yesterday to discuss ways to expand the UAE-based company’s mining operations in Egypt, according to a ministry statement. The company’s subsidiary, Thani Dubai Mining Ltd. is currently exploring the Hodein Valley in the Eastern Desert for gold under a contract with the Oil Ministry.

The EGP float has resulted in an increase of readymade garment exports of 11% y-o-y since November and could increase by a further 14% next year, Fadel Marzouk, the chairperson of the Readymade Garments Export Council of Egypt, told Ahram Gate. Imports of readymade garments have also dropped by 70% since the float, Marzouk added. He also noted that USD 600 mn in investments in the sector are going to be pumped within the next six months.

The Electricity Ministry is “close” to signing a contract with UAE’s Al Nowais to establish the USD 4 bn coal fired power plant in the Sinai,ministry sources told Al Borsa. The development comes following news that the ministry and Al Nowais were at an impasse over what the ministry then said was a “high” tariff on the power it will be selling. Al Nowais had apparently agreed to lower the price it will be charging the government, the source added.

The results of a seismic survey in the Red Sea are expected in the first half of 2018, industry sources told Youm7. The ministry anticipates that exploration operations in the Red Sea will attract investments of USD 750 mn.

The government is planning to issue a tender soon for the development of an inland port in 6 October City, Al Mal reports. Feasibility studies place the initial investment value at USD 100 mn, according to Transport Minister Hisham Arafat, who explained that the project will seek mainly to reroute cargo transport traffic to rail from road. The inland port is one of 10 planned facilities that are set to become part of a nationwide network of logistical service centers.

Damietta Container & Cargo Handling Company is set to issue a global tender for the development of platforms at the Damietta Port, after having completed the designs for the expansions, company head Saad Zaghloul tells Al Shorouk. Zaghloul says the company is targeting increasing the number of containers it handles to 1.2 mn during the current fiscal year, up from 890k last year.

The Civil Aviation Ministry is looking to arrange EGP 400 mn to fund infrastructure projects at the Airport City project, Minister Sherif Fathy tells Al Shorouk. The ministry plans on completing the infrastructure works before putting up the project for a tender once again, according to Fathy. The tender had been postponed earlier this year after no companies applied as utilities to the project’s site were not provided.

It is unlikely the Health Ministry will move to raise medication prices anytime soon since the FX rate has largely stabilized, deputy head of the Federation of Egyptian Industries’ pharma division Osama Rostom says, Al Mal reports. Rostom explained that the agreement the ministry had reached with pharma manufacturers back in January stipulated a review of meds prices in August only if FX rates increased or decreased significantly, which is not the case. Pharma companies, including Janssen Egypt, continue to push the ministry to raise prices following fuel price hikes. A white flag hoisted by a prominent industry representative should see those complaints quiet down.

The New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) reportedly rejected Orascom Housing Communities (OHC)’s settlement offer to buy the remaining 1380 feddans in the disputed Haram City housing project for EGP 35 per sqm, government sources tell Al Shorouk. The source added that NUCA is pushing for the land to be bought at current market prices which are higher. OHC also reportedly offered to donate 1,000 homes to the Tahya Masr Fund and give NUCA equity in the firm if it would help secure funding for the project, after OHC agreed to buy out its US partners who have filed an international arbitration case against the authority. We had last heard that Ittihadiya was going to come in to help push for a resolution to the dispute, which arose when NUCA provided only 620 feddans from an original contract of 2,000 feddans.

Misr Italia Group is in talks with the New Administrative Capital Company for Urban Development to develop 1,000 feddans in the new capital, according to Al Shorouk.

The tourism delegation heading to London to participate in the World Travel Market (WTN) Monday will lobby for the resumption of British travel to Sharm El Sheikh,according to Al Shorouk. The Egyptian delegation will be working with British tour operators throughout the event, which is one of the biggest travel fairs in the world, to put pressure on the UK government to resume travel to Sharm El Sheikh after increased demand for destinations in Egypt.

The government is looking to arrange USD 75 mn to finance the purchase of locomotive spare parts for urgent maintenance work on the country’s trains, Transport Minister Hisham Arafat tells Al Ahram. No details were provided on whether the government is already in talks with potential suppliers, or the expected timeline of the purchase. Arafat also told the newspaper that the establishment of a new company for high-speed trains is currently in the pipeline. The company will be responsible for executing projects that are currently under study, including constructing two new railway lines connecting the Red Sea coast with the North Coast, and Sixth October City with Aswan.

Evergrow for Specialized Fertilizers received a EGP 1.2 bn syndicated loan from a consortium of banks including Arab African International Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and National Bank of Egypt, to finance the establishment of the Evergrow factory in the Sadat Industrial Zone. Sarie-Eldin & Partners was the legal adviser on the transactions, the firm said in a statement (pdf).

Banks in talks with EgyptAir over a USD 870 mn loan to revamp its fleet are stipulating that the facility be guaranteed by the Finance Ministry,banking sources told Al Shorouk. Reports emerged in October that the airline is seeking a loan of USD 870 mn to finance a portion of its purchase of new aircraft. The airline is in talks with 25 private and public banks and is planning to spend USD 5 bn on new aircrafts.

Suez Steel initiated talks with a number of local banks to secure a EGP 1 bn loan to finance operations and an upcoming expansion,banking sources told Al Shorouk.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi issued a decree establishing the executive body for the National Elections Commission,according to Youm7. The body will serve a four year term and is made up of Alaa El Din El Sayed as director of the body. Other members include Osama Ghazi, Atef Abdel Hamid Hassan and Rifaat Mohamed Osman.

Nubian activist Gamal Sorour died in detention on Saturday, the Associated Press reports. “Sorour’s death was reported Sunday by prominent rights lawyer Ragia Omran and Sorour’s longtime friend and fellow activist, Haggag Oddoul. Omran says his funeral will be held Sunday.”

ON THIS DAY- On this day in 1956, the allied forces of the Tripartite Aggression took control of the Suez Canal Zone and declared a ceasefire. UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold announced “the allies had accepted the terms of the UN ceasefire and had ordered troops to stop fighting.” The UN condemned South Africa’s apartheid regime and called on all its members to end economic and military relations with the country in 1962. The second phase of the Russian Bolshevik revolution of 1917 began on this day, after the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries staged a nearly bloodless coup, occupying government buildings, telegraph stations, and other strategic points. In 1999, Australia rejected a proposal to break ties with the British monarchy and become a republic. On 6 November 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States. This time last year we were into our second business day under the new reality that its life under the EGP float.