Tuesday, 5 May 2020

Expect the curfew to last at least until the end of Ramadan. Plus: UberEats exits Egypt, Middle East

TL;DR

What We’re Tracking Today

It’s PMI day here in Egypt, and if the rest of the world is any indication, it won’t be pretty: April’s PMI figures for Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE will land today at around 6:15am CLT. You can find it here when it’s out.

As expected, April PMI figures from Asian and European economies yesterday showed the contracting deepening month-on-month. The IHS Markit Eurozone Manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (pdf) reached its lowest level in recorded history, dropping to 33.6 as demand and production were hard-hit due to covid-19 lockdowns. Confidence across the eurozone also took a nosedive.

Who had it the worst? Greece and Spain’s PMI readings were the lowest among the bunch, followed by Italy and France. But all countries included in the composite reading had PMI scores that were either an all-time low, or at the lowest level since the global financial crisis a decade ago.

Asian PMI readings also took a beating. India’s manufacturing PMI (pdf) plunged to 27.4 — the lowest score since its recordings began in 2008. Japan’s manufacturing PMI (pdf) dropped to an 11-year low, while South Korea — Asia’s fourth-largest economy — also saw its manufacturing PMI reading (pdf) fall to its lowest since January 2009.

Other news triggers to keep your eye on over the next several days:

  • Foreign reserves figures for April should be released sometime this week;
  • Inflation figures for April are out on Sunday, 10 May.
  • The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee meets next Thursday, 14 May, to review interest rates.

Your latest reminder that how we approach offices and office design is changing comes courtesy the New York Times.

Your latest reminder that things can get bad, fast comes from Brazil, where the Wall Street Journal tells us that the country has “just passed China, the origin of the pandemic, both in confirmed cases, 105,222, and in deaths, 7,288, becoming the hardest-hit country in the developing world.

The antidote to everything: Take a long view with these 68 bits of wisdom from Wired magazine founding editor (and author of 1,000 True Fans), Kevin Kelly, offered on his 68th birthday.

The markets today: Shares in Japan and South Korea were down in early trading this morning while equities in Hong Kong and China were in the green. Futures suggest the odds are good European stocks will open in the red, while US indices will open in positive territory later today. The EGX30 closed down 1.2% yesterday, in the red for the second day in a row in very light trading: Turnover was EGP 605 mn compared to the EGP 1 bn or more we’ve seen in recent weeks.

So, when do we eat? Maghrib prayers are at 6:35pm and you’ll have until 3:32am to finish caffeinating. Fajr is coming one minute earlier every day through the end of the Holy Month.

COVID-19 IN EGYPT-

Egypt has now disclosed a total of 6,813 confirmed cases of covid-19 after the Health Ministry reported 348 new infections yesterday. The ministry also said that another seven people had died from the virus, taking the death toll to 436. We now have a total of 2,139 confirmed cases that have since tested negative for the virus after being hospitalized or isolated, of whom 1,632 have fully recovered.

Among the dead was another physician, the Medical Syndicate said yesterday, bringing to eight the number of medical doctors who have died from the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to Youm7.

Expect to hear by Thursday that the 9pm-6am curfew will be extended until the end of Ramadan. Cabinet Spokesman Nader Saad told nighttime talkshow queen Lamees El Hadidy last night that the government looks set to leave the curfew in place until the end of the Holy Month (watch, runtime: 22:32). The curfew is scheduled to expire on Thursday.

And don’t expect to hear whether we’ll pass Eid El Fitr under curfew until just before the holiday, Saad warned, saying, “With the coronavirus, there are no guarantees. No nation can say that the situation is under control.”

Tax relief on corporate income tax payments was a good first step, but many businesses wants more help from the government. A handful of businesses polled by Al Mal — including Orascom Construction, Pyramisa Hotels, Cleopatra Hospitals, and Dice Clothing — want more from policymakers to help see them through the corona storm. At the top of the wish list: Businesses want electricity and water price cuts given to the industrial sector to be extended to other areas of the economy, a six-month real estate tax holiday, and an installment plan for VAT and utility payments similar to what the Finance Ministry did with income tax.


When will the government tap private hospitals to handle covid-19 cases? Renaissance Capital thinks we’re quite some ways away from that milestone, saying in a research note yesterday that state-owned hospitals currently have enough capacity to absorb 42k active cases based on its estimate of a 20% hospitalization rate and suggestion that the state has north of 8.4k ICU beds available. Private sector hospitals should see 25-35% drops in patient volumes in 2Q and recover gradually in 3Q before “reverting to pre-covid levels in 4Q20,” RenCap’s Omar Aboulmagd writes. Pharma players should be the least impacted players in the sector.

Separately, MPs have been lobbying the Health Ministry to allow private labs to provide covid-19 testing to help expand the country’s testing capacity.

The Health Ministry has shut down 26 medical facilities in Beni Suef for not complying with covid-19 safety precautions, according to a statement. Sixteen private clinics and 10 labs were closed while eight private hospitals are being inspected by the ministry to ensure their compliance with safety measures.

State wheat importer GASC has lined up USD 100 mn financing agreement for commodity imports from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, according to an ITFC statement. The financing will be used to purchase 240k tonnes of wheat and 100k tonnes of sugar.


Tensions boil over in Kuwait as stranded Egyptian workers demand to come home: Kuwaiti police dispersed what officials there called a “riot” by Egyptian workers who were being held for allegedly violating the kingdom’s residency laws, Kuwait’s Interior Ministry said yesterday.

Egypt’s Emigration Ministry moved to reassure Egyptians working in the Gulf that the government would organize repatriation flights in the coming days and would prioritize those whose work contracts or residency permits had expired. The Egyptian ambassador to Kuwait told Kuna that the repatriation flights would begin this week.

The story is getting significant play in the foreign press this morning: Reuters | AP | AFP | The Guardian.

ON THE GLOBAL FRONT-

Are countries around the world exiting lockdown a bit too quickly? That’s the question in the minds of policymakers as “Italy and the United States were among a slew of countries tentatively easing coronavirus lockdowns on Monday,” Reuters reports. But the New York Times suggests it has seen US government documents that show ending lockdowns now will “make matters worse” as the “daily death toll will reach about 3k on June 1 … a 70 percent increase from the current number of about 1,750.” New cases will skyrocket to “200k new cases each day by the end of the month, up from about 25k cases a day currently.”

Dubai Expo officially postponed to next year: The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) has approved the UAE government’s request to postpone Dubai Expo 2020 until 1 October 2021, according to a BIE statement. The expo will run until March 2022.

Japan has extended its national state of emergency until the end of the month but has signaled it could lift restrictions if there is a slowdown in infections, according to Reuters.

MACRO-

Global stocks mixed on US-China tensions, manufacturing collapse, easing lockdown restrictions in New York: It was a mixed picture in the global equity markets yesterday. US stocks joined their European and Asian counterparts in the red for much of the day before rebounding late in the session on news that New York would begin to ease its lockdown restrictions this week. European and Asian markets finished deep in the red as fresh PMI data showed manufacturing activity in the euro area and some parts of Asia falling to record lows.

Oil continues winning streak as glut slows: Brent crude rallied for the fourth consecutive day, with July futures gaining USD 0.76 to close at USD 27.2/bbl, and US crude edging up by USD 0.61 to settle at USD 20.39 as stockpiling showed signs of easing.

Another blow for the aviation sector as GE cuts 10k jobs: GE became the latest aviation giant to announce lay-offs yesterday as the sector struggles through the pandemic. The US corporation said that 10k people would be let go following in the footsteps of British engine maker Rolls-Royce which is preparing to lay-off 8k people and British Airways, which announced last week that 12k jobs would be cut.

Can algorithmic economics help steer the economic recovery post-covid-19? Researchers from Harvard University and the software team behind Salesforce are hoping machine learning applied to economic modelling will prove useful. The research tool can be used to assess likely results of stimulus packages and universal basic income. A Financial Times report examines the strengths of the approach, such as predicting outcomes not considered by conventional models, as well as its shortcomings, like the inability to factor in real-world variables of players that never act entirely rationally.

Enterprise+: Last Night’s Talk Shows

El Hekaya’s Amr Adib and his better half, Al Kahera Alaan’s Lamees El Hadidi, continued to have the airwaves more or less to themselves last night while most other talk show hosts dim their studio lights during the holy month.

Decision to reopen hotels is worrying Ziad Bahaa El Din: El Hadidi phoned lawyer and former politician Ziad Bahaa El Din, who voiced a concern that the move to allow hotels to accept domestic guests is premature (watch, runtime: 11:10). Plans for a phased return to normalcy progressed earlier this week when the government announced that hotels would be able to reopen for local tourists from the middle of May. Bahaa El Din said that the decision could send a message to people that they could return to normal life and further the spread of the virus. The government should, instead, reassess its priorities for a better idea of which sectors to bring to life to boost the economy, he said.

The government has a plan to bring stranded Egyptians home from Kuwait over the coming months. The state will operate 32 flights to repatriate Egyptian expats from Kuwait, some of whom were arrested by authorities for violating the kingdom’s residency laws, Saad told El Hadidy. Planes will fly twice weekly starting Wednesday, meaning that it could take up to 16 weeks to bring everyone home from the Gulf state. We recap this story in this morning’s What We’re Tracking Today section, above.

Adib also touched on the same topics with cabinet spokesman Nader Saad (watch, runtime: 12:03).

Speed Round

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LEGISLATION WATCH- FinMin pushes through change to levy on fuel as House green-lights new fees to help shore up public finances: The House of Representatives has approved the government’s plan to directly pocket a levy on fuel as part of a series of new “development fees” to shore up government finances as it ramps up spending to fight the coronavirus, Al Masry Al Youm reports. Finance Minister Mohamed Maait asked the House general assembly to allow the state to directly pocket the levy on gasoline and diesel a day after the proposal was rejected by the House Planning and Budgeting Committee.

Other fees approved yesterday as part of the same bill included new levies on mobile phones, pet food and sporting contracts, among others.

Prices at the pump will not go up, Maait said. For starters, the levy isn’t exactly new: a fee of EGP 0.30 / liter of gasoline and EGP 0.25 / liter of diesel is already included in the price. What is changing is who gets to collect the fee. The legislation will see the government collect the proceeds of fuel development fees, rather than state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), Maait told talk show host Ahmed Moussa last night (watch, runtime: 33:50). Maait promised MPs yesterday that the cost of the development fee will be borne by EGPC and that the prices paid by consumers would not rise.

Are bureaucrats about to get a 1% wage cut for the next year? Civil servants and employees of state-owned companies could end up foregoing 1% of their salaries for one year, according to draft legislation seen by Masrawy. The news outlet says the austerity measure could go into effect starting this month if the measure can get cabinet and House approval in the coming weeks. Proceeds from the levy would be deposited into an account at the central bank and governed by rules to be drawn up by the cabinet.

FinMin will have more soon: Maait refused to disclose details about wage levy when asked by Moussa last night, noting only that authorities are planning to issue a statement soon (watch, runtime: 2:37).

enterprise

M&A WATCH- Al Ahly Capital to enter healthcare sector with hospital purchase: Al Ahly Capital Holding, the investment arm of the National Bank of Egypt, is closing in on the acquisition of an unnamed specialized hospital, CEO Karim Saada told Al Mal. The acquisition comes as part of Al Ahly’s plans to invest USD 150 mn in the sector, Saada said, without disclosing the value of the transaction. Al Ahly said in March it plans to set up a JV with Emirati MBF Group to invest in Egypt’s healthcare sector and that its inaugural transaction would be the purchase of a hospital.

Education investments are also on the horizon: Al Ahly Capital is planning to enter the education market with the purchase of a university and a school later in the year, Saada told the newspaper without providing further details. The investment bank is also looking at the non-banking financial sector, and is mulling either buying an existing company or going in greenfield.

UberEats exits Middle East as subsidiary Careem announces layoffs, closes bus service: Ride-hailing giant Uber’s plans for expansion in the MENA region took a hit yesterday after the company announced that it would discontinue its food delivery platform UberEats regionwide. The company has struggled to gain a foothold in the competitive MENA food delivery market, industry players tell us. A spokesperson said yesterday (pdf) the decision was made to so Uber could concentrate its efforts on countries in which it has better growth prospects. UberEats will continue operating in Egypt until the end of Monday, 18 May, two years after it was first launched in Cairo, the company said in an email to users. Uber’s regular ride-hailing services will not be affected by the decision.

Uber is also exiting: “Czech Republic … Honduras, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and Ukraine by June 4,” Bloomberg reports, adding, “the company also said it would transfer Uber Eats business operations in the United Arab Emirates to Careem by the same day.”

Careem to lay off 31% of its employees as business craters: Uber subsidiary Careem will lay off 536 of its employees as precautionary measures against the covid-19 pandemic take their toll on the business. It’s unclear how many of the jobs to be cut are in Egypt. The announcement was made to employees by CEO Mudassir Sheikha, who said that the pandemic had caused business to fall by 80%. “The covid-19 pandemic crisis has presented major risks to our dreams and our future impact … and the schedule for recovery is still unknown, a cause for concern,” he said. “The most appropriate way to protect Careem in the long run is to move towards self-sustainability within a reasonable time frame.”

And Careem Bus is now a thing of the past: Sheikha also announced the closure of its mass transport business Careem Bus, just 18 months after its launch in Egypt. The company had since expanded the service into Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan.

LEGISLATION WATCH- House approves proposed Banking Act “in principle”: The House of Representatives yesterday gave preliminary approval to the proposed Banking and Central Bank Act, according to a local press report citing state news agency MENA. The long-awaited legislative overhaul will now be up for a final vote before being signed into law by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. The bill, which has been in the works since 2017, would grant the CBE increased oversight over the banking sector, introduce measures governing e-payment, fintech businesses, and cryptocurrencies, and strengthen data protection and consumer privacy. It would, if passed, also impose a 1% levy on bank profits to endow an industry development fund. You can find out more about the details of the legislation here.

The Central Bank of Egypt sold USD 975.4 mn of one-year USD-denominated treasury bills in an offering that was 1.3x oversubscribed, according to official figures. The CBE received over USD 1 bn of bids for the USD 800 mn bills it offered. Investors requested yields of up to 5.5%, and the CBE accepted an average yield of 3.49%.

EARNINGS WATCH- CIB profits fall 9% in 1Q2020: CIB’s net profits fell 9% y-o-y to EGP 2.4 bn during the first quarter of 2020 as the country’s largest private-sector bank took larger provisions in the first quarter “to ensure the Bank’s continued solid financial position remains intact amidst current uncertainties,” it said its quarterly earnings release (pdf). Revenue growth remained strong during the first three months of the year, rising 15% to EGP 6.4 bn, driven primarily by expansion of its net interest income. “CIB upheld firm and robust top line growth that came amidst the growing threat of covid-19, and as management took all measures to protect the bank’s employees, customers, community, country and all other stakeholders,” the bank said.

Uncertainty ahead: “The outlook remains ambiguous [for the remainder of the fiscal year], with no concrete indications as to when the global economy will start picking up,” management said. Management said CIB absorbed the blow from covid-19 in no small part thanks to its longstanding investment in digital transformation and big data, powering the bank’s expansion of its digital channels in recent months, enabling large-scale work from home for staff. The push will also help support profitability, make “more informed pricing decisions” and help with risk modeling.

Qalaa Holdings’ revenues rose 11% y-o-y in FY2019 to EGP 14.9 bn, the investment company said in its full-year earnings release (pdf). The revenue growth came on the back of expansion at TAQA Arabia, the company’s energy platform, which booked a y-o-y growth of 31% in 2019. Dina Farms and Nile Logistics also showed improved performance throughout the year. Qalaa Holdings booked a consolidated net loss after minority interest of EGP 1.1 bn in 2019 against a net profit of EGP 1.3 bn in the previous years.

Qalaa has prepared for some of its activities to come under pressure in 2020 due to the economic fallout and volatility brought on by the covid-19 outbreak. This includes its flagship greenfield Egyptian Refining Company — which began operating at 100% capacity in 2019 — as oil prices have been pushed to record lows. The firm also expects pressure on its cement and mining activities as demand is subdued and local construction activity slows. On the flipside, other subsidiaries are expected to show greater resilience, including Dina Farms and National Printing. In spite of the difficulties brought on by the pandemic, Qalaa Chairman Ahmed Heikal said he is “pleased to report that Qalaa continues to employ its full workforce and has not resorted to any layoffs.”

Laila and Adel Sedky were our guests this week on Making It, our podcast on how to create a great business here in Egypt. The founder and CEO of Nola reflect on their 10-year journey of transforming their brand from a simple Zamalek-based cupcake shop to a full-fledged dessert concept across the country.

** Listen to this week’s episode (runtime 38:51) on: Our website | Apple Podcast | Google Podcast | Omny. We’re also available on Spotify, but only for non-MENA accounts. Subscribe to Making It on your podcatcher of choice here.

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Image of the Day

Emerging markets: Which are most at risk? As the emerging world begins to stabilize after weeks of turbulence, this Economist graphic measures the financial stability of 66 emerging-market economies using four metrics: public and foreign debt levels, borrowing costs and foreign reserves.

Botswana — with its sizable stockpile of foreign reserves, low debt pile and booming mining sector — is sitting pretty as the strongest emerging-market economy. Venezuela and Lebanon — with perilously high levels of debt, high borrowing costs and depleted reserves — languish at the bottom of the heap. Egypt is ranked somewhere in the middle, with a relatively low level of foreign debt and adequate reserves but shouldering troubling amounts of public debt.

Egypt in the News

The pages of the foreign press are fairly quiet this morning, with no single story dominating the conversation.

Hisham Selim goes public about trans son: Actor Hisham Selim made headlines in Reuters for a rare conversation on gender identity he had on a talk show on Al Qahera Wel Nas on Sunday. A clip in which Selim speaks about his 26-year-old transgender son Noor, born Nora, was widely circulated on social media to mixed responses.

US-Egyptian citizen Reem Dessouky has been released by authorities and has returned to the US after having been detained for nearly a year in Egypt, reports the Associated Press. Dessouky was held on charges of running a Facebook page critical of the government. She was due to be released last February, but her detention was extended after an Egyptian court accepted an appeal from the prosecutor general.

It hasn’t been a great few months for Egypt: Hamza Hendawi points out the obvious in the National, recounting our recent experiences with floods, viruses and terrorism.

Worth Watching

How satellite imagery has been useful during covid-19: We’ve all seen the satellite images of countries devoid of people as lockdowns keep populations inside. Bloomberg’s Ashlee Vance talks to the source of some of these images, Will Marshall the CEO of Planet Labs, a company that sends hundreds of satellites orbiting overhead to capture day-by-day high resolution images of this unprecedented moment (watch, runtime: 10:50). Marshall says that his company was deemed an essential service as governments were quick to ask for the satellite images to be able to monitor cities and use the data for their covid-19 response plans.

Governments have also been forced to be more transparent: Vance also talks to Alison Puccioni, an open source image analyst, who has been working alongside governments to translate what these images mean. She adds that it works both ways, the availability of the satellite imagery also holds governments accountable. Puccioni gave the example of Iran, which claimed to have lowered their covid-19 fatalities before coming under fire after mass graves were detected from space.

Tourism

NatGeo releases footage of Ancient Egyptian funeral home excavation

National Geographic is airing video footage of the excavation of the first fully preserved funeral home complex at the Sakkara necropolis, which was unearthed by a team from Germany's Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, according to BusinessWire. The footage will be airing on 12 May as part of the BBC’s four-part series, Kingdom of the Mummies.

Automotive + Transportation

Maersk, MSC plan to reroute some ships from Suez Canal to Cape of Good Hope

Maersk and MSC plan to reroute an unspecified number of their container ships from the Suez Canal to the Cape of Good Hope, opting for a longer sail around the African continent after low oil prices have made the journey less costly than the Suez Canal’s passage fees, according to Al Mal. The decision comes despite a reduction in passage fees by up to 75% for certain routes announced by the Suez Canal Authority last week.

Sports

Egyptian tennis player Youssef Hossam handed lifetime ban for corruption

Egyptian tennis player Youssef Hossam has been handed a lifetime ban from the sport after having been found guilty of match-fixing and corruption, tennis’ global anti-corruption body said yesterday, according to Reuters. The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) provisionally suspended Hossam, who is ranked 410th in the world, last summer. Hossam’s older brother, Karim, was also banned for life in 2018 for multiple match-fixing offenses.

On Your Way Out

If his football career falls through, Mo Salah might have a safety net in rapping. All the Liverpool forward and all-around national treasure was missing in a new advertisement for ExxonMobil Egypt is some gold chains and grills (watch, runtime: 01:38).

The Market Yesterday

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EGP / USD CBE market average: Buy 15.69 | Sell 15.79
EGP / USD at CIB: Buy 15.70 | Sell 15.80
EGP / USD at NBE: Buy 15.68 | Sell 15.78

EGX30 (Monday): 10,082 (-1.2%)
Turnover: EGP 605 mn (10% below the 90-day average)
EGX 30 year-to-date: -27.8%

THE MARKET ON MONDAY: The EGX30 ended Monday’s session down 1.2%. CIB, the index’s heaviest constituent, ended down 0.9%. EGX30’s top performing constituents were Eastern Company up 1.4%, Orascom Development Egypt up 0.3%, and Ezz Steel up 0.3%. Yesterday’s worst performing stocks were Dice down 10.0%, Emaar Misr down 4.8% and AMOC down 4.7%. The market turnover was EGP 605 mn, and foreign investors were the sole net sellers.

Foreigners: Net Short | EGP -3.0 mn
Regional: Net Long | EGP +2.2 mn
Domestic: Net Long | EGP +0.8 mn

Retail: 70.4% of total trades | 72.5% of buyers | 68.3% of sellers
Institutions: 29.6% of total trades | 27.5% of buyers | 31.7% of sellers

WTI: USD 21.33 (+4.61%)
Brent: USD 27.95 (+2.76%)

Natural Gas (Nymex, futures prices) USD 2.07 MMBtu, (+3.96%, Jun 2020 contract)
Gold: USD 1,709.10 / troy ounce (-0.25%)

TASI: 6,595.97 (+0.16%) (YTD: -21.38%)
ADX: 4,037.83 (-1.65%) (YTD: -20.45%)
DFM: 1,924.71 (-1.11%) (YTD: -30.39%)
KSE Premier Market: 5,182.49 (-1.25%)
QE: 8,668.06 (-0.22%) (YTD: -16.86%)
MSM: 3,500.08 (-1.08%) (YTD: -12.08%)
BB: 1,300.96 (-0.75%) (YTD: -19.20%)

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Calendar

14 May (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

23 May (Saturday): Earliest date on which suspension of international flights to / from Egypt expires.

23 May (Saturday): Earliest date by which restaurants, gyms, nightclubs, museums and archaeological sites will reopen.

23 May (Saturday): An administrative court will look into an appeal by steel rolling mills to overturn a government’s decision to place import tariffs on steel rebar and iron billets. The hearing was postponed from 22 February 2020.

23-26 May (Saturday-Tuesday): Eid El Fitr (TBC).

31 May (Sunday): A postponed court session for the lawsuit filed by Cairo Development and Auto Industry, a subsidiary of Arabia Investment Holding, against Peugeot Automotive to demand EUR 150 mn compensation.

9-10 June (Tuesday-Wednesday): US Federal Open Market Committee will hold its two-day policy meeting to review the interest rate.

30 June (Sunday): Anniversary of the June 2013 protests, national holiday.

25 June (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

28-29 July (Tuesday-Wednesday): US Federal Open Market Committee will hold its two-day policy meeting to review the interest rate.

30 July-3 August (Thursday-Monday): Eid El Adha (TBC), national holiday.

13 August (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

20 August (Wednesday-Thursday): Islamic New Year (TBC), national holiday.

15-16 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): US Federal Open Market Committee will hold its two-day policy meeting to review the interest rate.

24 September (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

24 September- 2 October (Thursday-Friday): El Gouna Film Festival, El Gouna, Egypt.

6 October (Tuesday): Armed Forces Day, national holiday.

29 October (Thursday): Prophet Mohamed’s birthday (TBC), national holiday.

November: Egypt will host simultaneously the International Capital Market Association’s emerging market, and Africa and Middle East meetings.

4-5 November (Tuesday-Wednesday): US Federal Open Market Committee will hold its two-day policy meeting to review the interest rate.

12 November (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

15-16 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): US Federal Open Market Committee will hold its two-day policy meeting to review the interest rate.

24 December (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

25 December (Friday): Western Christmas.

1 January 2021 (Friday): New Year’s Day, national holiday.

7 January 2021 (Thursday): Coptic Christmas, national holiday.

 

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