YouTube faces one-month ban in Egypt

The hand-wringing over weakness in emerging market currencies continues in the global business press, with Bloomberg’s Paul Wallace being the latest in a string of writers to point out that equity markets in countries including Egypt, Kenya, and Ghana have also been slipping in response. “Egypt’s stocks, which had risen steadily since the EGP was devalued in November 2016, have fallen more than 9% since late April,” he says. The USD’s strength in recent weeks has left emerging markets in distress as they grappled with a major sell-off triggered by higher US interest rates, as well as geopolitical tension.

So how’s the EGP faring? Year to date, it looks like this:

Is the oil production tap about to be turned on? With oil still in the USD 80 neighborhood, Saudi Arabia and Russia are signaling that they may dial-up oil output this year. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih said that it is likely production will ramp up in 2H2018, according to Bloomberg. Whether the size of the supply increase is ultimately “a mn, more, or less, we’ll have to wait until June,” when OPEC and its partners will meet, Al Falih said. “We’re not interested in an endless rise in the price of energy and oil,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters. Oil prices at USD 60/bbl fully suit Russia and the country doesn’t want them to spiral higher, he added. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the output boost would start in the third quarter.

The comments had an immediate impact on Friday, sending Brent crude down USD 3 to below USD 67 and vindicating investors who have reduced their oil positions.

Is the US exerting behind the scenes pressure to curb prices? Analysts are suggesting a tweet by Donald Trump from last month lambasting OPEC for raising prices may have helped nudge the Saudis to switch gears on oil. The US wasn’t the only one, with India also pressuring the Saudis to start ramping up production, Bloomberg says.

A drop in oil prices would be good news for the 2018-19 state budget here at home. Every USD 1 increase in the price of a barrel of oil raises government energy spending in the coming budget by EGP 3-4 bn, we’re told. The government had budgeted EGP 110 bn for energy subsidy spending at an average oil price of USD 55/bbl

Qatar doesn’t plan on mending ties with the Arab Quartet: Qatar’s banned yesterday the sale of of food and other goods from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain, Bloomberg reports. The move comes a little more than a week before the one-year anniversary of the Arab Quartet simultaneously severing diplomatic ties with the statelet.

“It’s starting to feel like 2007” for “the Wall Street bankers who feast during recessions,” Business Insider says, pointing to a string of commentary of late that suggests more and more bankers are staffing up (or otherwise positioning themselves to benefit from) a downturn in the US economy.

Door still open for cancelled US-North Korea summit? US State Department officials will be in Singapore today to “prepare for a possible summit there” between North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump. The news comes just days after Trump called off the summit — and after the leaders of North and South Korea held a “surprise meeting” on Saturday to discuss the “high-stakes” meeting set to take place next month — “the strongest sign yet that the two Korean leaders are trying to keep the on-again off-again summit on track,” says Reuters.

Your Ramadan rundown for today:

Bank hours run 09:30 am to 01:30 pm for customers and from 09:00 am to 02:00 pm for employees, CBE announced.

The EGX is running shorter trading hours. The trading session kicks off at 10:00 am, but closes at 1:30 pm. Tap or click here for the full schedule.

We’re looking at reasonably good weather in the week ahead, with the mercury set to hover between 32°C and 34°C all the way through Friday. A spell of warmer weather is on the horizon starting Saturday, according to the long-range forecast on our favourite weather app.

So, when do we eat? For those of us observing, Maghrib is at 6:49 pm CLT today. You’ll have until 3:13 am tomorrow to finish your sohour.

Recommended Ramadan reading:

Fortnite, the game your (pre-)teen is obsessed with, has become a sufficiently potent cultural force that it has made the global business press, with mentions this weekend in the Financial Times and CNBC. As the FT puts it, you can think of it as “a cartoony mix of Minecraft and Call of Duty.” The Epic Games title includes a version available to play without charge. Fortnite is available for iOS, macOS, Windows, PS 4 and Xbox. An Android version is in the works.

Also worth setting aside for the long, quiet hour or two before iftar:

• The Financial Times has run a special series on everything you need to know about sleep.
• Jeff Bezos thinks we have no choice but to go back to the moon, “and this time to stay,” the Wall Street Journal writes, quoting from a “personal, wide-ranging talk” at a space convention on Friday. Bezos “vowed to use his rocket startup to develop robotic rovers and perhaps human habitats on the moon’s surface, even if such projects fail to win financial support from the U.S. government.”
• Stranger Things’ Bob Newby and Mews the Cat are back, “rewatching in peace” their respective demises in season two of the hit Netflix show (watch, runtime: 1:22).

Our friends at AmCham are holding their annual general meeting and iftar on Tuesday, 29 May. Their guest speaker will be Education Minister Tarek Shawki, who will speak about the government’s “national strategy for education transformation in Egypt.” If our own little company’s iftar wasn’t scheduled for the same night, we’d attend: We don’t know Tarek Shawki, but the man is brave to push for sweeping education reform, and none of us in the business community (ourselves included) are doing enough to support him. Hats off to AmCham for inviting him to speak. Members and their guests and register here to attend the iftar and AGM.

Do you have an idea for a tech-enabled business idea that could make agriculture in Egypt more efficient? The World Bank may have seed funding, access to mentorship, and an accelerator / incubator program for you through its “DigitalAG4Egypt” program. The deadline for submissions is 1 July. Tap or click here for more information.

Move along, move along. The talking heads are on hiatus. We suspect they’re having no more luck finding a decent mosalsal to watch than we are.

M&A WATCH- Ebtikar-led consortium acquires ODE’s stake in Tamweel: A consortium made up of B Investments’ Ebtikar, TCV, and Acquire for Investment acquired Orascom Development Egypt’s (ODE) full 87% stake in Tamweel Group on Thursday. The transaction valued Tamweel at EGP 360 mn, ODE said in a regulatory filing (pdf). “The sale will enable ODE to deconsolidate the related debt of Tamweel Group, which stood at EGP 1.1 bn as of 31 March 2018,” the company said. ODE has been divesting its non-core assets to reduce its debt burden.

Tamweel is the latest addition to Ebtikar’s portfolio of businesses in the non-banking financial services sector, where it’s looking to grow its presence and market share. “The acquisition of Tamweel Group is a pivotal step in the integration of Ebtikar’s strategy to expand the company’s operations,” Chairman Aladdin Saba said in a Thursday release (pdf). “This is Ebtikar’s third investment after completing investments in T.B.E Egypt for Payment Solutions and Services “Bee” and Vitas Misr for Microfinance since inception in 2017.”

Advisors: EFG Hermes Investment Banking was ODE’s exclusive advisor on the transaction. Zaki Hashem & Partners advised Ebtikar and TCV on the acquisition, while Taha, Moussa & Sabahi Law Firm represented Acquire.

INVESTMENT WATCH- India’s Dhunseri to invest USD 225 mn in EIPET: India’s Dhunseri Petrochem is looking to invest USD 225 mn in its Egyptian Indian Polyester Company (EIPET), company officials tell India’s Economic Times. “Going forward, we plan to infuse money into the plant after examining the fund requirement. We plan to start operating one production line from August 2018 with an installed capacity of 300k tonnes per annum,” they added. The firm says it is investing again thanks to crude prices shoring up. The company anticipates turnover from the project to reach USD 500 mn.

Dhunseri wants equity partner at EIPET, pays down debt, wants to buy-out Enppi’s share: Dhunseri is also looking to “rope a strategic partner for the Egyptian firm,” Dhunseri Group Chairman Chandra Kumar Dhanuka said. The firm bought out the the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM)’s 23% share in EIPET last week and is also looking to acquire state energy firm Enppi’s shares in EIPET. Dhunseri said on Friday said it has paid back some USD 87 mn EIPET owed banks including CIB, Ahli United Bank and the International Finance Corporation.

INVESTMENT WATCH- Al Ahly Capital is investing EGP 1.5 bn in Al Ghurair Group’s Al Canal Sugar refinery, Head of Investment Karim Aboul Naga said on Thursday, Al Mal reports. That will give Al Ahly a 27% stake in the project, Aboul Naga said. We had heard earlier this month that the National Bank of Egypt was arranging a USD 1 bn syndicated loan for the UAE-based group’s new refinery project.

EGPC to set receive USD 850 mn in financing from domestic banking consortium to repay IOCs? The Finance Ministry has reportedly agreed to issue letters of guarantee for two loans to the EGPC worth a combined USD 850 mn, sources close to the matter tell Al Mal. The funding, which will be used to repay international oil companies, will take the form of three USD 250 mn, five-year facilities each coming from the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, and CIB. CIB will loan the state oil company a further USD 100 mn, the story claims. Last week, the local press had reported EGPC was seeking some USD 550 mn in funding. EGPC is reportedly also receiving a USD 662 mn short-term credit facility from a consortium of international finance institutions. Central Bank Governor Tarek Amer had said earlier this month that Egypt plans to repay USD 850 mn to international oil companies, without giving a clear timeline. Sources had previously said that a USD 200 mn payment would be made in June.

Also from the energy sector: The government appears to be moving ahead with its push to have state companies pay outstanding electricity and gas bills, even if it means selling assets. The move, first reported by Enterprise last week after we spoke with Cotton & Textile Industries Holding Company CEO Ahmed Moustafa, gained steam over the weekend as Public Enterprises Minister Khaled Badawy reportedly met with Moustafa to talk about restructuring, according to AMAY.

Egypt is on its way to once again becoming a net exporter of LNG, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest report. The report nods to new gas discoveries in the East Mediterranean, coupled with the government’s drive to reform the energy sector, for renewing investor and business interest in the country, which had died down during the economic slump that followed the 2011 uprising. You can view the full report here (pdf).

EARNINGS WATCH- Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) Egypt reported a net profit after tax of EGP 156.8 mn in 1Q2018, up from EGP 73.7 mn during the same period last year, according to an EGX filing.

Top court orders one-month ban on YouTube over 2012 Prophet Mohammed video: The Supreme Administrative Court upheld yesterday a 2013 lower court decision requiring the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) to ban YouTube for one month over a film deemed insulting to Prophet Mohammed, Reuters reports. The 2012 low-budget film, “Innocence of Muslims,” had been met with criticism and protests in Egypt and other Muslim-majority countries. A lower administrative court had issued a ruling the following year for the video-sharing website to be blocked, but the NTRA appealed the decision and the ruling was stayed throughout the appeal process. “The [ICT] ministry at the time said it would be impossible to enforce the ruling without also disrupting Google’s Internet search engine, incurring potentially huge costs and job losses” in the country, the newswire says.

The NTRA is waiting to receive a copy of the ruling to look into how it can implement the ban, an unnamed NTRA official tells Youm7. That’s government-speak for we’re not going to move on this unless you do. Yesterday’s ruling is final and cannot be appealed.

The story topped coverage of Egypt in the foreign press, with most, including the Guardian and Haaretz, stressing the finality of the ruling.

YouTube still works in Egypt as of 5:01am CLT today.

The Social Solidarity Ministry has launched a EGP 100 mn “Two is Enough” family planning program, according to a Cabinet statement. The program, which will be funded through the ministry’s NGO support fund and a UN Population Fund grant, aims to curtail the birth rate by specifically targeting around 1.15 mn women enrolled in the ministry’s Takaful program. The first phase will be implemented in the 10 governorates most in need of family planning services, including Aswan, Luxor, Qena, Sohag, Assiut, Minya, Beni Suef, Fayoum, Giza, and Beheira. The program will be implemented in cooperation with 100 civil society organizations and comes as part of a government-wide effort to promote awareness on the dangers of population growth and the benefits of having a small family, according to Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali. The minister is set to announce further details of the program tomorrow, according to Al Mal. The Health Ministry had announced last July that it is targeting a population of 112 mn by 2030, noting that Egypt is on its way to have a population of 128 mn by 2030 if birth rates continue at the current pace.

Mns of Egyptians (alongside Liverpool fans) may use Ramadan to collectively curse the day Sergio Ramos was born: While Real Madrid celebrated its 3-1 win over Liverpool to clench the Champions League last night, mns more were left heartbroken by the injury of star Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah at the hands of one of the dirtiest football players in the world. Salah took a tumble in the 31st minute following a challenge from Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos (known for his rough and deceptive play and rude behavior on the pitch). The fall led to an injury, later said to be a dislocated shoulder. You can see the very obvious dirty play (which went unpunished) here (watch; runtime: 1:00). We think the Twitter trending “Ramos is a dog” speaks for us all.

Potentially out of the World Cup? Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp did little to assuage our fears that the injury might endanger Salah’s chances for a World Cup showing. Asked after the final whistle if Salah’s place in the World Cup is in question, Klopp said: “Yeah it is…It’s either the collarbone or the shoulder…It’s a serious injury, a really serious injury.” The Egyptian Football Associations says that he had sprained his ligament, said that Salah chances of playing at the World Cup were still high, the Independent reports. The UK’s National Health Service says a dislocated shoulder can take 12-16 weeks to recover from. The World Cup starts in 19 days. It’s the curse of a positive notice in the Economist, folks.

Russian companies in line for a piece of the RIZ: Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil met with representatives of 60 Russian companies in Moscow over the weekend to discuss potential investment in the long-awaited USD 7 bn Russian Industrial Zone (RIZ). Companies attending the meeting included vehicle manufacturer Sinara Group, Lada manufacturer and Groupe Renault subsidiary AvtoVAZ, auto components manufacturer Kamaz, and rail equipment manufacturer Transmashholding, Ahram Gate reports. Egypt and Russia had finally inked the contracts for the zone last week, giving Russian companies rights to develop a 5.25 mn sqm stretch of land in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone).

Egypt, Russia sign MoU to develop infrastructure for bread, grain, and dairy production: Kabil and his Russian counterpart Denis Manturov signed an MoU on Thursday that will see them cooperate on upgrading logistics within Egypt’s food production chain, according to a ministry statement. The three-year agreement will see Russian companies participate in building new infrastructure for grain storage and preparation, baking, and dairy processing. Both sides will also collaborate on similar ventures elsewhere in the region under the agreement.

Also from Russia over the weekend: The Egyptian Exporters Association (Expolink) signed three MoUs with the Russian commercial attaché in Egypt on Friday to promote Egyptian exports, according to Al Masry Al Youm. The agreement will see logistical centers for Egyptian products established in Moscow to facilitate their distribution in the Russian market, according to Expolink president Khalid El Miqati.

Hidden in the streets and alleyways of Downtown Cairo are dozens of small museums unknown to the average traveler — or Cairene, for that matter. Local community newspaper Mantiqti points to several of them, including the Royal Chariots Museum, which has been closed for renovations since 2001, the Postal Museum that overlooks Attaba Square, and the museum housed in the historic building of the Egyptian Stock Exchange, which tells the story of how the bourse over the last 130 years and contains a replica of the first trading hall. Other highlights include the Railway Museum and a small facility honouring Banque Misr founder Talaat Harb at the bank’s downtown Cairo headquarters.

Mo Salah’s injury in last night’s Champions League final, a potential one-month YouTube ban and the detention of activist Wael Abbas dominated a busy weekend for Egypt in the international press. We have chapter and verse on Salah and YouTube in Speed Round, above.

Blogger and activist Wael Abbas was detained after the State Security prosecutor ordered him held for 15 days pending investigations of charges that include allegedly publishing fake news and being involved with an illegal group. “In recent weeks Egypt has stepped up a crackdown on political critics, arresting a series of prominent activists, which has drawn international attention,” Reuters says.

US Vice President Mike Pence raised concerns about the arrest of activists in a call with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, the White House said in a statement. The call was made to thank El Sisi for the release of more than 300 prisoners, including US citizen Ahmed Etiwy.

The rebound of Egypt’s economy is an important development for the United States, which needs a stable Arab ally to act as an “effective partner” in the region, the Heritage Foundation’s Anthony Kim and Patrick Tyrrell write for the Daily Signal. Overall economic freedom has improved, while the new investment and bankruptcy acts play important roles in making Egypt an attractive destination for US multinationals to invest. Nudging Egypt further down that path is beneficial to the US, Kim and Tyrrell say.

The Rise of the Muslim Woman Tech Entrepreneur, an opinion column in the New York Times, name-checks Cairo’s Samira Negm of Raye7 (the car-pooling app) and Amira Azzouz of Fustany in a piece that concludes, “Globalization and technology have at times had a harsh impact on parts of the working class in the United States and elsewhere in the developed world in recent years. On the other side of the world, those same forces have empowered mns of women, with far-reaching consequences for their families, communities and countries.”

A Florida man (we’ve always wanted to write that) has been arrested for allegedly threatening two Egyptian Muslim students with a switchblade and a stun gun at a McDonald’s, the Washington Post reports. “Get out of my country, you do not deserve to eat here,” John Jay Smith reportedly yelled at the students. Prosecutors are considering filing hate charges against Smith, who is already facing charges of assault, battery, and burglary (watch, runtime: 02:06).

Other stories on Egypt include:

• NPR’s Jane Arraf sat down with one of the young men who raised a rainbow flag at the Mashrou’ Leila concert last September. He has sought asylum in Canada after “his family and his life have been destroyed.”
• Egyptian feminist Nawal El Saadawi urges women to “organize themselves and fight” in an interview with Reuters.
• Egyptian women will be allowed for the first time to sit on major mosque boards, Gulf News reports, quoting an Endowments Ministry official.
• Egypt has reportedly banned preaching at 20k storefront mosques this Ramadan in what’s being positioned as a clampdown on extremist rhetoric, according to Religion News Service.

Providing seasonal workers with insurance is a necessary step toward economic integration, Emad El Din Hussein writes for Al Shorouk. He supports ideas floated by Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Waly, calling for setting working hours and insurance schemes — both social and medical — for seasonal workers to ensure they’re receiving their rights and also further the goal of integrating the informal sector into the formal economy.

Arabs may have used this ancient Semitic alphabet before Arabic was invented: Recently discovered rocks engraved with Safaitic inscriptions are shedding light on a mysterious period in the history of pre-Islamic Arabia,changing decades of academic consensus and rewriting the history of the region, Elias Muhanna writes for the New Yorker. One recent find was a rock unearthed by archaeologists in Jordan, with inscriptions in the ancient alphabet that flourished in northern Arabia 2,000 years ago. It was one of more than 50k texts that showed how ancient speakers of early Arabic used the letters of other alphabets to transcribe their speech, after it was long thought that the area’s Bedouin nomads had no system for writing down the poetry they composed to record the feats of their tribes. “Safaitic glyphs look nothing like the cursive, legato flow of Arabic script. But when read aloud they are recognizable as a form of Arabic.”

Saudi Arabia’s new regulations on imports of Egyptian agricultural products will come into effect on 13 July, Al Masry Al Youm reports. The regulations include limiting KSA’s imports to Egyptian suppliers approved by and registered with the Saudi Food and Drug Authority, as well as requiring suppliers to provide a certificate from a certified testing lab indicating that the shipment meets quality standards and is free of Hepatitis A. The kingdom had lifted its bans on Egyptian guava, strawberry, and pepper imports earlier this year after the government imposed new regulations on the inspection of cargo to be examined ahead of export.

Egypt’s quality control measures are said to have led to a jump in vegetables and fruits exports to 2.88 mn tonnes during the current export season, Xinhua reports, citing MENA. The increase comes mainly on the back of a growth in citrus and potato exports.

Oil Minister Tarek El Molla met with Dana Gas CEO Patrick Allman-Ward on Thursday to discuss the latest in the UAE-based company’s ongoing projects in Egypt, which include concessions in the Nile Delta and the Mediterranean coast off of North Sinai, according to a ministry statement.

Gold miner Centamin has cut its 2018 output to 505k-515k ounces from a previous forecast of 580k ounces due to lower grade gold at its Sukari mine in Egypt, according to a company release. The London-listed miner also raised its cost expectations for producing an ounce of gold to USD 875-890 an ounce from a previous target of USD 770. The company’s decision, which came as a result of persisting “low grades” from the the open pit and underground, was followed by a drop of as much as 18% in shares on Friday, the Financial Times reports.

Japanese electronics giant Toshiba is planning to expand its partnership with Elaraby Group, Chairman Mahmoud Elaraby said on Thursday, Al Shorouk reports. A delegation from Elaraby visited the Japanese company last week to discuss ways to expand the scope of their 40 year-old partnership. Elaraby was sparing on the details, saying only that new agreements between the two sides would see increased manufacturing.

The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) will be delivering three ready and licensed industrial complexes to investors in Sadat City, Port Said and El Raswa in early June, IDA authority chief Ahmed Abdel Razek said, Youm7 reports. Construction on three additional complexes in 10 Ramadan City will begin in July, he added.

The Cairo Economic Court rejected on Wednesday an appeal filed by Golden Pyramids Plaza against a court of arbitration ruling from March 2015, which ordered Golden Pyramids to pay Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) and Consolidated Contractors International EGP 260.8 mn and USD 43.4 mn plus interest, Golden Pyramids said in a bourse filing (pdf). The company’s appeals had been rejected numerous times, including in February 2018 and in July 2017. Last month, OCI took a step further in the legal battle and sued Golden Pyramids and the Arab African International Bank (AAIB), which had apparently acted as financial guarantor for Golden Pyramids.

Transport Minister Hisham Arafat met with a delegation from the European Investment Bank to talk funding packages for Egypt’s transport projects, including a EUR 380 mn loan for the development of Cairo Metro Line 1, Al Mal reports. The loan comes as part of a EUR 600 mn agreement from the EIB, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the French Development Agency. Total investments in developing the country’s rail network are expected to reach EGP 220 bn by 2030, according to a Cabinet statement. Arafat also met with a delegation of the German-based SAP SE. on Thursday to discuss the implementation of smart technologyin railway and port operations management, Al Masry Al Youm reports.

Revolta Egypt plans to have built 300 electric vehicle charging stations across the country by 2020, according to founder Mohamed Mostafa. Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil had inaugurated back in February the first of 65 charging points that Revolta plans to construct under phase-one of its plan, which is expected to cost as much as EGP 65 mn. The second phase of the project should see the Nile Delta covered by 2019, while the third and final phase will cover Upper Egypt and Sinai. Revolta is importing Tesla cars to Egypt and investing EGP 100 mn in building infrastructure for electric vehicles.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi issued a decree on Thursday granting the prime minister powers to exercise presidential rights under the Eminent Domain Act. The law allows the president to seize privately-owned land under eminent domain and offer compensation that includes a 20% premium on the value of the land.

Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy signed on Thursday a MoU with the World Food Program to support Egypt’s 2018-2023 food security strategy,according to Al Mal. Moselhy said that the agreement will see initiatives being launched to help bolser Egypt’s food supply chain, improve overall nutritional quality of the crops grown, and upgrading data collection systems.

Google’s Doodle yesterday celebrated what would have been Egyptian author and professor Radwa Ashour’s 72nd birthday. Ashour, who was an advocate against university corruption and censorship, was also known for “her distinct writing style that invites users to intimately experience far away places through her perspective.” The acclaimed author of over 15 book has also been recognized for her ability to “challenge the dominant discourse” through literary works that tackle the lives and conditions of marginalized groups.