Egypt’s vaccine rollout is gaining speed even before locally made jab rolls out

Happy first day of summer, everyone, and welcome to the longest day of the year. It’s a brisk news morning here in Egypt even if things are a bit sleepy abroad, so let’s jump right in:

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY-

Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis is in Cairo today for talks with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, and Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, Greek media reported yesterday.

It’s shaping up to be a rocky day in the global markets: Asian markets fell heavily this morning on the first trading day of the week as concerns that the Federal Reserve may hike rates in 2023 continue to send tremors through global stocks. The Nikkei was seeing the biggest losses ahead of dispatch, down 3.5%, with Taiwan and Australia also heavily in the red. This follows heavy losses in Europe and the US last week, as investors reacted to the news that the Federal Reserve may look to unwind its bond-buying programme and raise rates in response to the strengthening US recovery and rising inflation. Stock markets across Europe and the US are expected to fall when trading begins later today.

Here at home, the EGX held up comparatively well, closing down just 0.7% yesterday on moderate volumes.

No single story has captured the attention of the global press on this fine morning:

• The ‘new’ US economy: The New York Times and the Washington Post are both spotlighting the changed economic realities wrought on the US by the pandemic.
• HK crackdown: Reuters leads with the news that Hong Kong authorities are closing down a pro-democracy newspaper owned by jailed businessman Jimmy Lai.
• Canada’s not ready to open yet: Bloomberg reports that Canada is refusing to open its border with the US until 75% of its citizens are fully vaccinated.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from yesterday’s edition of EnterprisePM:

• e-Finance looks at potential fintech acquisitions as planned IPO approaches: The state-owned firm is looking at businesses licensed to provide financial services such as e-payments, ins. and microfinance, and is planning an expansion into Africa using the proceeds from its upcoming IPO.
• Compass Capital makes MTO on ANFI: Private equity firm Compass Capital has submitted a mandatory tender offer to acquire up to 100% of Alexandria National Company for Financial Investments (ANFI) for EGP 5.72 per share.
• SCA says it finally has a good compensation offer: The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has received a “suitable” compensation offer from the owners of the Ever Given, as a hearing by the Ismailia Economic Court was postponed to 4 July to give both sides more time to negotiate.

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

The 2020-2021 CIB PSA World Tour Finals get started in Cairo tomorrow. The squash tournament will run through Saturday, 27 June.

Your morning commute is about to get a bit better: School’s out for public school students this week, who will attend the last day of the 2020-2021 academic year on Thursday, 24 June.

The African Development Bank’s annual meeting takes place this week (virtually, of course), running 23-25 June

A TIP OF THE HAT THIS MORNING TO our good friends at CIB and EFG Hermes, who are in line to potentially take home some hardware from the African Banker awards, which are to be announced during the AfDB meeting. CIB is up for African bank of the year and sustainable bank of the year, while EFG is among the finalists for the investment bank nod and a financial inclusion award. Banque Misr could also take home a gong as a finalist in the investment bank category and joins EFG as a finalist for a number of transaction-specific awards. You can see the full list of finalists here.

*** It’s Blackboard day: We have our weekly look at the business of education in Egypt, from pre-K through the highest reaches of higher ed. Blackboard appears every Monday in Enterprise in the place of our traditional industry news roundups.

In today’s issue: The Higher Education Ministry ran a comparison between the status of higher education in Egypt in 2014 and 2021 – and boy, do these numbers tell a story. Hint: all stats point upwards, with more students, universities, faculties, faculty members, published academic papers and university hospitals.

Egypt’s vaccine rollout seems to be accelerating: Some 4 mn people have now received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine, an unnamed senior health official told El Watan yesterday. That’s up by around 1.5 mn from the beginning of the month and almost 2 mn from late May. The country began its vaccination campaign with frontline medical staff in late January for frontline medical staff and before rolling it out to the general public in March.

By our math, that’s probably around 7% of all folks who are eligible to be jabbed, which in Egypt is defined as citizens and other residents age 18 and over.

As of yesterday, 8.4 mn people had registered to receive a vaccine, the source said. At the end of last month, the ministry was seeing on average 300k registrations a day, a marked improvement after starting out at just 20k per day.

The government is aiming to vaccinate 40% of the population by the end of the year, with an eye to inoculating at least 20% of all citizens before August.

State-owned vaccine maker Vacsera’s second manufacturing facility in Sixth of October City is set to become the largest in the Middle East and Africa and will churn out 3 mn doses of Sinovac’s covid-19 vaccine a day when up and running, Health Minister Hala Zayed said at a site tour yesterday. The minister did not mention when production would start at the plant.

We might soon be manufacturing a European vaccine on our shores, according to Health Ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed, who told Extra News in a phone-in last night that Egypt will contract with an undisclosed European company in the coming weeks to locally produce its jab through the state-owned vaccine maker (watch, runtime: 9:58).

The first batch of Made-in-Egypt Sinovac jabs could be done this week. Zayed said last week that the first shots would be produced “within days” and would be subject to tests ahead of bring distributed to clinics around the country in August. The ministry expects to manufacture as many as 40 mn Sinovac jabs before the end of the year.

Egypt is set to receive 25 mn doses of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine, as part of the 300 mn doses provided to Africa by the African Union, presidential health advisor Mohamed Awad Tag El Din said on eXtra News on Friday (watch, runtime 8:21). The head of Egypt’s medical procurement body said last month that Egypt would receive 20 mn J&J shots through the AU, and that 4 mn of them should arrive within 4Q2021.

The Health Ministry reported 532 new covid-19 infections yesterday, down from 566 the day before. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 277,288 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 30 new deaths, bringing the country’s total death toll to 15,859.

IN INTERNATIONAL COVID NEWS-

The highly-transmissible delta variant is threatening a new resurgence of the virus in the EU after becoming the dominant strain in Portugal, writes the Financial Times. Clusters of the delta variant — first identified in India — are now appearing in Germany, France and Spain, and EU officials are growing concerned that its spread threatens to derail the bloc’s progress at clamping down on its outbreak.

KSA is planning serious investment in Egypt: Saudi Arabia could invest as much as USD 20 bn in Egypt over the next five years, Egyptian-Saudi Joint Business Council Chairman Bandar Al Ameri told Akhbar El Youm, saying the drive could bring total investments here from the kingdom and its companies to USD 50 bn. As many as 6,280 Saudi companies are currently operating in Egypt, he said, describing Egypt as a key market for Saudi investors.

One Saudi company that’s going big: Sharbatly Group aims to invest some USD 2.5 bn in several ventures in Egypt over the next five years.

This comes a week after the business council met in Cairo. There were no major announcements made following the talks, beyond the potential for a Saudi mining company to get involved in Egypt’s mining sector, new logistics centers for date exports, and agreements to “cooperate” further in a number of sectors.

Saudi Arabia isn’t our only Gulf ally stepping up investment here: The UAE is one of the biggest contributors of FDI to the Egyptian economy and in the past few years the Emirati public and private sectors alike have been buying into Egypt in a big way as the country looks to increase its investment in Egypt to USD 14 bn by the middle of the decade. In 2019, the Sovereign Fund of Egypt and ADQ agreed to set up a new platform to channel USD 20 bn of investment between the two countries, a pact that just two months later saw the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund agree to invest in four companies owned by the National Investment Bank. In 2021, Emirati real estate player Aldar Properties has announced its intention to acquire a majority stake in SODIC — one of Egypt’s largest property developers — while First Abu Dhabi Bank snapped up Bank Audi Egypt.

IN OTHER INVESTMENT NEWS-

HSBC has supported Chinese clients investing in USD 20 bn-worth of projects in Egypt, the bank’s Egypt CEO and deputy chair Todd Wilcox told Asharq Business, but didn’t mention how much the lender is planning to dole out to cover part of the cost. Both Chinese and British investors are showing particular interest in the Egyptian market, he said, without providing further details.

BACKGROUND- China is taking the lead on some of our biggest ongoing infrastructure projects: China has become a vital partner for Egypt in delivering some of Egypt’s most important infrastructure projects and has been one of the Suez Canal Economic Zone’s biggest investors. State Construction Engineering Company (CSCEC), the world’s largest construction outfit by revenue, is taking on the USD 3 bn contract to construct the new capital’s business district, while two Chinese construction firms were named in the consortium that was last year put in charge of building the USD 9 bn high-speed rail link between New Alamein and Ain Sokhna.

CORRECTED ON 17 June 2021 — HSBC has worked with Chinese companies to “facilitate” access to financing in projects in Egypt worth a combined USD 20 bn, as well as help in other areas. The lender didn’t provide this amount in direct funding, and the projects it supported weren’t just limited to infrastructure as a previous version of this story had suggested. 

The EGP will hold up better than most other emerging-market currencies in the event of tightening at the Federal Reserve, given its attractive real interest rates, an analyst at Fidelity International tells Bloomberg. The currency, along with the Ghanaian cedi, have an “enormous” advantage over their peers in terms of real yields — and will likely remain more attractive to foreign investors should a more hawkish Fed provoke outflows from the EM asset class, they said.

We saw this towards the end of last week, when the Fed indicated it could raise interest rates sooner than expected. While the announcement triggered a hefty sell-off of EM currencies, the EGP held firm (pdf), even strengthening a little against the greenback despite the USD seeing one of its biggest weekly gains this year.

EM debt didn’t have a good week: Local-currency bonds saw their worst week of outflows since March 2020 last week, as the pick up in US yields and the greenback caused investors to unwind their carry trade positions, Bloomberg says.

But analysts are optimistic that EM currencies will hold firm against tightening in the US as central banks in developing countries also move to raise rates in response to escalating inflation. Brazil, Russia, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Hungary — all countries that have either hiked rates or are forecast to soon — have held onto their quarterly gains, and while this was paused by the strengthening of the USD last week, EM currencies will resume their climb when the greenback fades. “Emerging-market central banks are set to begin raising interest rates well before the Fed,” said one economist. “Over the summer, lower volatility may induce investors to put on seasonal carry trades again to the benefit of higher yielding emerging-market currencies.”

Private sector education outfit CIRA is in talks with a syndicate of international banks to obtain financing for its planned applied tech university, CEO Mohamed El Kalla told Hapi Journal. The company is negotiating with three banks for a credit facility that would cover 40-50% of the EGP 2 bn project, he said.

About the uni: The tech university is expected to open its doors in the 2022-2023 academic year, under an agreement signed last week with Saxony International School (SIS), a German private-sector education provider. The institute will launch at CIRA’s Badr University, before being rolled out to other locations around the country.

Who’s in the syndicate? El Kalla didn’t disclose which international banks CIRA is in talks with. The company said last week that the National Bank of Egypt’s investment arm, Al Ahly Capital, would finance part of the project.

Also in the pipeline: CIRA is planning to invest up to EGP 500 mn to set up four language schools in Qena, New Assiut, New Rashid and El Alamein by 2022, El Kalla said.

IFC to advise private health firms on patient care: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has launched a three-year advisory program that aims to help at least 100 private-sector healthcare providers improve patient care, the corporation said in a press release (pdf) yesterday. The statement didn’t put a monetary value on the program. Working with the Dutch government, the IFC will advise medical facilities across the country on how to improve patient safety and quality assurance to ensure they deliver high-quality care. The release singles out Cairo, Port Said, Ismailia, Sinai, Aswan, Luxor, Matrouh, and Qena and notes that IFC has invested more than USD 310 mn in Egypt’s healthcare system since 2007.

Sudan wants the UN Security Council to put a stop to Ethiopia’s plans to fill the GERD: Sudan has requested that the UN Security Council consider imposing sanctions on Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam Al-Sadiq told Al-Hadath News (watch, runtime: 22:01). In a letter to the council, Sudan addressed the social, economic, and political impact of the dam on downstream countries, and called for the UN to step in and prevent Addis Ababa from continuing to fill the dam in the coming weeks.

This is the latest attempt by Egypt and Sudan to rally international support against the GERD: An emergency Arab League meeting called by the two countries last week led to Arab states calling on the Security Council to hold an urgent session to discuss the dispute. Egypt also appealed to the council earlier this month to take action against Ethiopia.

IN OTHER DIPLO NEWS-

The spate of meetings with Libyan officials continued yesterday when President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met the country’s FM, Najla Mangoush, in Cairo for talks. This comes a few days after Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks with Mangoush, and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel flew to Libya for talks with the country’s interim prime minister. Mangoush, who has made the withdrawal of foreign fighters from Libyan territory one of her top priorities, drew the ire of Turkey last month, which refuses to withdraw forces it deployed to the country during the recent civil war.

El Sisi also held talks with Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein yesterday, who called for strengthening economic ties and expressed interest in Egypt’s national projects, Ittihadiya said in a statement.

Headlining the talk shows last night: Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who gave an extended interview to Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa about the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The two talked about the Arab League’s recent call for the UN Security Council to intervene, other international efforts to pressure Ethiopia to re-enter negotiations, and what could happen if Addis Ababa goes ahead and continues filling the dam without an agreement. You can watch the full interview here (watch, runtime: 27:13).

The ball is now in the international community’s court: The EU and the UN should have by now realized the enormity of the GERD dispute, and should start taking firm steps to resolve the impasse in case the African Union fails to achieve a breakthrough in negotiations (watch, runtime: 6:30).

What will happen if Ethiopia proceeds with GERD’s second filling in the upcoming weeks? Destabilization of the Horn of Africa, according to Aboul Gheit, who described the move as “very dangerous” (watch, runtime: 3:23). He claimed that all 11 countries on the Horn of Africa back Egypt and Sudan’s position on the GERD and said that Arab countries will continue pushing for a resolution that pressures Ethiopia to return to the negotiating table.

The latest development in the Ever Given saga is getting the most attention in the foreign press this morning: Reuters and the Associated Press are covering the new offer made by the ship’s owners to compensate the Suez Canal Authority for the six-day blockage of the canal in March.

In other maritime news: The wonders of the sunken city of Heracleion off the coast of Alexandria is getting more ink in the Greek Reporter, while the National highlights a new “aquatic car” (read: glorified jet ski) on the North Coast.

Also making headlines:

• The matchmaking profession lives on in Egypt, where many families still resort to this traditional way of finding a spouse for their children (Xinhua)
• A 2.6k year old stone slab erected by pharaoh Apries was discovered by an Egyptian farmer in Ismailia while tilling his land (Live Science)

Egypt has taken five NGOs off its travel ban list after a court acquitted them yesterday of receiving illicit foreign funding, bringing the total number of acquitted organizations to 63. Separate verdicts have been issued in the 2011 NGOs case that involved more than 160 organizations, the latest of which were against 18 NGOs but were dropped last month due to insufficient evidence.

Two female TikTok influencers were yesterday handed six- and 10-year jail sentences after being found guilty of inciting debauchery and human trafficking by the Cairo Criminal Court. The women were also handed fines of EGP 10k each.

Progress at Iran nuclear talks: There have been signs of progress negotiations between Iran and world powers to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement, diplomats told the Associated Press yesterday.

Israel’s not happy, of course: Israel’s new PM Naftali Bennett has warned the US and other nations seeking to rekindle the Iran nuclear agreement to “wake up” after conservative hardliner Ebrahim Raissi won the country’s presidential election at the weekend.

West African countries have pushed plans to adopt a common regional currency to 2027, after having had their original 2020 launch date delayed due to covid-19, according to Bloomberg. The 15 countries that make up the Ecowas trading bloc have had plans to launch the ‘eco’ for more than 20 years, and it is hoped a common currency will promote regional trade and economic growth.

22-27 June (Tuesday-Sunday): The CIB PSA World Tour Finals for 2020-2021 will take place in Cairo.

24 June (Thursday): End of the 2020-2021 academic year (public schools).

26-29 June (Saturday-Tuesday): The Big 5 Construct Egypt, Cairo International Convention Center, Cairo, Egypt. The Big 5 Egypt Impact Awards will also be taking place at the event on 27 June.

30 June (Wednesday): The IMF will complete a second review of targets set under the USD 5.2 bn standby loan approved in June 2020 (proposed date).

30 June (Wednesday): 30 June Revolution Day.

30 June- 15 July: The Cairo International Book Fair, Egypt International Exhibition Center.

July + August: Thanaweya Amma exams take place.

1 July: (Thursday): National holiday in observance of 30 June Revolution.

1 July (Thursday): Large taxpayers that have not yet signed on to the e-invoicing platform will suffer a host of penalties, including removal from large taxpayer classification, losing access to government services and business, and losing subsidies.

1 July (Thursday): Businesses importing goods at seaports will need to file shipping documents and cargo data digitally to the Advance Cargo Information (ACI) system.

1 July (Thursday): Deadline for 17 EGX-listed companies to file their 1Q2021 earnings.

4 July (Sunday): Ismailia Economic Court to hold hearing on Ever Given compensation case.

19 July (Monday): Arafat Day (national holiday).

20-23 July (Tuesday-Friday): Eid Al Adha (national holiday).

23 July (Friday): Revolution Day (national holiday).

2-4 August (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt is hosting the Africa Food Manufacturing exhibition at the Egypt International Exhibition Center.

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

9 August (Monday): Islamic New Year.

12 August (Thursday): National holiday in observance of the Islamic New Year.

12-15 September (Sunday-Wednesday): Sahara Expo: the 33rd International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East.

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

30 September-2 October (Thursday-Saturday): Egypt Projects 2021 expo, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

30 September-8 October (Thursday-Friday): The Cairo International Fair, Cairo International Conference Center, Cairo, Egypt.

1 October (Friday): Expo 2020 Dubai opens.

6 October (Wednesday): Armed Forces Day.

7 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Armed Forces Day.

12-14 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Mediterranean Offshore Conference, Alexandria, Egypt.

18 October (Monday): Prophet’s Birthday.

21 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of the Prophet’s Birthday.

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

1-3 November (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Energy exhibition on power and renewable energy, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

1-12 November (Monday-Friday): 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), Glasgow, United Kingdom.

29 November-2 December (Monday-Thursday): Egypt Defense Expo.

13-17 December: United Nations Convention against Corruption, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

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

14-16 February 2022 (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Petroleum Show, Egypt International Exhibition Center, New Cairo, Egypt.

1H2022: The World Economic Forum annual meeting, location TBD.

May 2022: Investment in Logistics Conference, Cairo, Egypt.

27 June-3 July 2022 (Monday-Sunday): World University Squash Championships, New Giza.

**Note to readers: Some national holidays may appear twice above. Since 2020, Egypt has observed most mid-week holidays on Thursdays regardless of the day on which they fall and may also move those days to Sundays. We distinguish below between the actual holiday and its observance.