e-Finance’s IPO could be the biggest in years, will start trading on 18 October

Good morning, friends, and welcome to an abbreviated workweek. We have plenty of news for you this fine fall morning, so let’s jump straight in:

The House was back in session yesterday after its summer recess. A raft of business relevant legislation is on the agenda, from the Unified Budget Act, VAT amendments to a bill that would regulate the fintech space, lawmakers told us last week. Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal spoke to MP Amr Darwish yesterday, who gave her a rundown on what to expect from the legislative session (watch, runtime: 9:43).

We’re kicking off a shortened workweek today, with the nation getting Thursday 7 October off in observance of Armed Forces Day. We can also expect to have a Thursday (or possibly Sunday) off later in the month thanks to the Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday, which is formally observed on Monday, 18 October.

Nafeza is here: The Customs Authority’s new one-stop Advanced Cargo Information (ACI) platform graduated from a pilot into first-phase implementation on Friday, 1 October. Anyone who has not signed up for Nafeza can no longer clear imported goods out of customs at seaports.

The rollout went ahead after delays and calls from the business community to postpone yet further as they get to grips with the new process. For more on the hows and whys of the blockchain-based documentation system, read our explainer here.

HAPPENING TODAY- A Hamas delegation headed by the group’s leader, Ismail Haneyah, will be in Egypt later today, the Jerusalem Post reports. The delegation, which will also include the movement’s leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, will reportedly sit down with Egyptian officials to continue negotiations on a prisoner swap agreement with Israel.

It’s day two of Techne Summit, with the three day investment and entrepreneurship event in Alexandria held under the auspices of the CIT ministry bringing together some 600 startups.

Investment in Egyptian startups has more than doubled in 2021, rising to USD 390 mn year-to-date from USD 190 mn in 2020, CIT Minister Amr Talaat said at the gathering yesterday.

The Cairo International Fair continues today at the Cairo International Conference Center, running through 8 October.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia are set to ink contracts to start linking their electricity grids on 5 October, with implementation of the project set to begin in 2022, Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker said Thursday at the inauguration of the test phase of the New Cairo electricity grid automatic control center, Al Mal reports. Separately, Shaker told Al Shorouk that the contracts would be signed “within days.” The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company is expected to sign agreements governing cables, overhead lines, and transformer stations with their Saudi counterparts. The 3GW project is now set to become operational in 2023, after reportedly being delayed due to Saudi Arabia’s Neom project.

The final quarter of 2021 is here. Get these dates in your diary:

• PMI: September’s purchasing managers’ indexes for Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE will land on Tuesday, 5 October.
• The Senate will convene for its 2021-2022 legislative season on Tuesday, 5 October.
• Foreign reserves: September’s foreign reserves figures will be out sometime during the first week of October.
• Public schools are back in session this coming Saturday.
• Inflation: Inflation figures for September will be released on Sunday, 10 October.
• IMF + World Bank meetings: The IMF and the World Bank will hold their annual meetings during the week beginning 11 October.
• Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt will meet to review interest rates on Thursday, 28 October.

SMART POLICY- CBE makes it easier for guardians to manage dependents’ bank accounts: Guardians of minors and other dependents are now permitted to open bank accounts and access statements on their behalf, as well as withdraw accrued interest and pensions without requiring approval for every withdrawal, according to a CBE circular (pdf) out on Thursday. The CBE said the move aims to enhance financial inclusion, noting that women often manage bank affairs for dependents.

** Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD- Are you ready for a long, dark winter with no presents under the tree? That’s how things are looking in many western economies, the global business press warns. Everyone from the Financial Times to Canada’s CBC is flagging that “Christmas shortages are now a certainty.” At play: kinks in the global supply chain and surging fuel and food costs, warns Bloomberg.

The European natural gas squeeze seems to be getting worse: Algeria is signalling that it plans to shut down a pipeline that supplies Spain through Morocco — thanks to long-standing tensions between the two North African neighbors over Algeria’s support for a Western Sahara secessionist group, the Financial Times notes. Record high prices are threatening a winter energy crisis across the continent, with several European countries announcing support packages to cover households’ skyrocketing electricity bills.

And it could get much worse: A shortage of coal combined with a 15% increase in demand for power this year means China is making a state-backed play to secure as much of the world’s natgas supplies as it can, following energy blackouts that forced a large number of companies to curb output.

US legislators have one more month to pass a USD 1.2 tn spending bill after Congress passed an emergency measure over the weekend to continue funding federal road programs to avert a government shutdown, according to a press release by Pelosi.

MARKET WATCH-

Markets rollercoaster into the weekend: Volatility dominated the conversation at the end of last week, as the S&P 500 registered its worst weekly performance since February, Bloomberg reported. Stocks dropped on Thursday on the back of a laundry-list of worries spanning US budget drama, the upcoming Fed taper, high inflation, the global supply crisis, mounting energy shortages, Chinese regulatory restrictions, and the pandemic.

Friday saw a rebound on the back of high hopes for a reopening following the release of strong results for an experimental covid-19 drug and positive US economic indicators, Bloomberg reported.

But we’re far from out of the woods: The S&P could see a “5-7% pullback … at any time given we haven’t had one in so long,” one strategist told Bloomberg.

** IN CASE YOU MISSED IT – Stories from Thursday’s edition of EnterprisePM:

• The silver lining to global supply chain chaos: Egypt could be one of the top beneficiaries as Western fashion brands try to localize their supply chains and lower their reliance on their far-flung, low-cost manufacturing centers in Asia.
• Fancy a trip to the metaverse? Facebook is trying to make sure it has as much control as possible over the next frontier: the metaverse.
• Squid Game: Go watch it.

State-owned fintech firm E-Finance is looking to raise up to EGP 3.6 bn (USD 229.2 mn) from its upcoming IPO in what would be the biggest offering on the EGX in years. The company has set an indicative price range of EGP 12.50-13.98 per share, according to a statement (pdf) on Thursday, valuing the company at up to EGP 22.37 bn (USD 1.42 bn).

The sale: E-Finance will offer almost 258 mn shares to the public, 80 mn of which will be sold by existing shareholders and 177.8 mn will be new shares offered as part of a capital increase. The sale represents a 14.5% stake in the company; expect to learn more about the split between institutional and retail shareholders when the company prices the offering.

The timeline: Bookbuilding should finish on 9 October after which the company will announce the final IPO price. The retail offering will run from 6 October to 13 October. Trading will begin on 18 October.

Regulator gives the all-clear: The Financial Regulatory Authority gave it final sign-off for the sale in September, the statement said.

The financials: The digital payments firm recorded net earnings of EGP 352 mn in 2020, up 30% from 2019, according to figures included in its intention to float. Its top line, meanwhile, grew to EGP 1.2 bn last year, good for a 2018-2020 CAGR of 30%; profits grew at a CAGR of just over 41% in the same period. The company looks set to beat that growth rate again this year if its 2021 figures are anything to go by, reporting EGP 276 mn in net earnings in 1H2021 on EGP 904 mn in revenues.

Future plans: The proceeds of the IPO will be used to fund the company’s expansion, including in its tax services business E-Tax and a newly-formed digital health services platform E-Health, Chairman Ibrahim Sarhan told us last week

Advisors: Renaissance Capital, CI Capital and Al Ahly Pharos are quarterbacking the transaction as co-lead managers. NI Capital is acting as the IPO advisor for the listing. Zaki Hashem & Partners has been appointed as counsel to e-Finance, while Norton Rose Fulbright is acting as US counsel to the co-lead managers. Inktank is the investor relations advisor.

A litmus test: Other companies readying themselves to go public on the EGX will be watching E-Finance’s IPO closely. Ebtikar has said it could make its debut this quarter while Macro Group, which postponed its IPO in April, is also waiting in the wings. EGX boss Mohamed Farid had expected 5-6 IPOs this year, after delays in 2020 thanks to the pandemic.

This will be the EGX’s second IPO of 2021, following higher education outfit Taaleem’s debut in April. LSE-listed healthcare player IDH also completed a technical listing, transferring 5% of its shares from London to the EGX in May.

EFG Hermes is in talks to acquire a significant minority stake in Spanish renewable energy company Ignis Energia in a transaction that would value it at around EUR 1 bn, Spanish newspaper Expansion reported Thursday. EFG is reportedly looking to purchase 45-49% of the company through a capital increase, an agreement that would allow Ignis to proceed with 3 GW of new developments. EFG Hermes declined to comment when we reached out last week.

Ignis Energia is one of Spain’s largest solar energy companies: As of last year, the company had 14.2 GW of renewables under development and 2.9 GW of assets under management, according to its website.

EFG Hermes isn’t a stranger to the renewable energy sector: Its private equity arm sponsors and manages Vortex Energy, an investment platform that targets renewable energy investments. Vortex’ fourth fund, Vortex Energy IV was looking at a wind and solar energy developer in Spain, Karim Moussa told us this past summer. Moussa is head of private equity and asset management at EFG Hermes and CEO of Vortex Energy. Moussa said the fund was also looking at potential transactions in Poland, Greece, the UK and the US.

All of Ignis could eventually be on the auction block: Expansion reported earlier this year that Ignis was looking to sell a minority stake to fund the developments, and had hired Citigroup to help it find a partner. The company was reportedly looking for EUR 500 mn investment, and is open to allowing the investor to eventually buy out the entire company.

Egypt is among emerging markets that are bracing for the Fed taper: Emerging-market debt — including Egyptian bonds and T-bills — could become less attractive to foreign investors after the Federal Reserve last month hinted that it could start to wind down its asset-purchase program in November and raise interest rates as soon as next year. A tighter US policy could leave emerging markets vulnerable to a drop in foreign inflows as risk-averse managers seek safer returns in the US. That said, Egypt’s strong foreign reserves, fast-growing economy, and a switch to longer-term maturities in recent years mean Egypt is best-placed among EM to weather a potential storm. Bloomberg has a full, chart-based rundown of the strengths and pressure points to watch out for as Egypt’s fixed-income market transitions into the post-covid-recovery economy.

High real rates mean high inflows — and greater exposure to volatility: Egypt offers one of the world’s highest inflation-adjusted rates, leading to a boom in foreign holdings of Egyptian debt, which hit a record USD 33.3 bn at the start of August, Bloomberg writes. High inflows have helped the state finance spending — but a reliance on foreign investors leaves us vulnerable to volatility in the fixed-income markets, while elevated rates mean the cost of debt service is also comparatively high. A hike in global rates may see Egypt pressured to pay out higher yields to stem the outflows.

We’re positioned to avoid the worst of an EM sell-off: Historically, global rate movements haven’t had much impact on the local picture, Shamaila Khan, head of emerging-market debt at AllianceBernstein in New York, told Bloomberg. “If other emerging markets are pressured, I would expect Egypt to still perform well on a relative basis,” she said. On debt service, S&P said the government has made “notable progress” in lowering the burden. The proportion of the state budget allocated to debt service was down to 36% as of June from 40% a year before, with a target of 32% by June 2022, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait has said. Meanwhile, a turn toward offering longer-term debt instruments — the average maturity has doubled since 2013 to reach 3.26 years — may help insulate the country from a shock sell-off.

Strong FX reserves are key: Net international foreign exchange reserves have held fast at USD 40.7 bn, creating “good buffers to deal with any potential capital outflows,” said Ahmed Hafez, MENA head of research Renaissance Capital, who added that the improving real economy — including tourism — will also help bolster Egypt’s position.

Real economic growth is outpacing the rise in debt: GDP continued to rise during the pandemic, albeit at a slower pace than before, proving the country’s resilience as developed nations and peers in the oil-reliant Gulf took a harder hit. The economy grew at a 3.3% clip in the 2020/2021 fiscal year, with a target to rebound to pre-pandemic growth levels of 5.5% this FY. Strong growth has tempered the impact of rising debt: while the debt-to-GDP ratio ticked up as the result of the pandemic to 90.6% in June 2020 from 87.4% a year before, it is expected to return to a years-long declining trend come 2022.

Egypt received 1.6 mn doses of Pfizer vaccine as a gift from the US last Thursday under the Gavi / Covax program, the Health Ministry and the US embassy said in statements on Thursday. This is the first batch of a total 5 mn Pfizer doses that we will be receiving from the US. There was no indication of when the next shipments would be dispatched. The ministry also confirmed that it had received 100k+ doses of AstraZeneca sent by Poland last week.

The vaccine shipments are coming thick and fast: Including the Pfizer shipment, Egypt has received around 10 mn vaccines in the past two weeks alone, including 5.4 mn doses of Sinopharm, 2.3 mn AstraZeneca doses from Germany, and almost 550k of the same jab from France.

The Health Ministry reported 761 new covid-19 infections yesterday, up from 745 the day before. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 306,030 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 32 new deaths, bringing the country’s total death toll to 17,399.

FROM THE REGION- Residents of Saudi Arabia will not be allowed into public and private sector institutions starting 10 October unless they’re full vaccinated, the Saudi Human Resources and Social Development Ministry said over the weekend. Those who have not been fully vaccinated will also not be allowed into malls, cultural institutions, sporting events, and entertainment venues.

Anchorage Investments is looking to build a USD 2.5 bn petrochemical complex in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), according to a company statement (pdf). The company will produce a range of petrochemical products and natural gas derivatives, including propylene and polypropylene, and will look to gradually increase the number of products.

When will the plant be operational? Project construction is expected to take 36 months once funding is secured, according to a project profile seen by Enterprise. The USD 2.5 bn project will be financed 70% through debt and 30% through equity.

The Anchor Benitoite project will be competing with perhaps the largest petchem facility on the continent: State-owned Red Sea National Refining and Petrochemicals Company is establishing what it says will be the largest petrochemicals refinery in Africa and the Middle East in the Ain Sokhna industrial zone. Bechtel is on board to design and construct the USD 7.5 bn facility which will span 3.56 mn sqm and produce petroleum products including polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester.

Egypt has secured EUR 100 mn funding from France to establish a wholesale market in Borg El Arab, the Supply Ministry said in a statement following a visit to France by Minister Ali Moselhy on Friday. The market, which is being financed by the French Development Agency (AFD), will be up and running within two years, the statement said. The money is part of the EUR 3.8 bn in agreements and contracts signed with France in June.

The French Development Agency is studying the development of 14 wholesale wheat markets to strengthen the country’s food security, the ministry said in another statement. France will select an expert to prepare an economic feasibility study for running the project during this month and will form an Egyptian-French joint company accordingly to manage the wholesale market. French market Rungis could contribute in providing infrastructure, human resources, and control systems, according to a third ministry statement.

Diversifying supplies, cutting costs: Moselhy discussed the ministry’s ambitions to diversify wheat imports, and said that one of the biggest barriers to increasing purchases of French wheat is the shipping costs, which remain higher than for shipments from Russia, Ukraine and Romania. Egypt is the largest wheat importer in the world, and is overly reliant on supplies from the Black Sea region, the reliability of which is uncertain as Russia’s export tariffs impact production.

More talks next week: Officials will hold further talks this week about reducing the shipping costs of French wheat, the statement said. One proposal on the table involves using Egypt’s National Navigation Company, it said, without disclosing further information.

EFG Hermes has, once again, topped the EGX’s brokerage league table, with a market share of 17.6% in September, according to the EGX’s latest brokerage firm rankings (pdf). Rounding out the top five: Arabeya Online (12.9%) Beltone (7.6%) Pioneers (4.2%) and Mubasher (4.1%).

Contact CEO and managing director Said Zater (LinkedIn) has been elected chairman of the Consumer Finance Federation, according to a statement (pdf). CEO of Al Mansour Automotive Hisham Abouldahab (LinkedIn) was chosen as the deputy chair.

Bahaa Elshafie (LinkedIn) has been appointed the vice chairman at Banque du Caire as of the beginning of October, Hapi Journal reports. Elshafie has over three decades of experience working at QNB Al Ahli, most recently serving as the head of corporate and investment banking.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s sit-down with the nation’s judges on the occasion of Egyptian Judiciary Day headlined talk shows last night. The president chaired a meeting of the Supreme Council for Judicial Bodies, delivering a speech in which he upheld the principle of “non-interference” in the affairs of the judiciary as a golden rule. Al Hekaya’s Amr Adib (watch, runtime: 5:02), Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 5:19), Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal (watch, runtime: 3:43), and Sada El Balad (watch, runtime: 1:32) all had coverage.

El Hadidi noted that this is the first Judiciary Day since women were allowed to serve as judges, noting El Sisi’s statement that Egypt now has 11 female judges nationwide (watch, runtime: 2:22).

El Sisi also paid tribute to the families of judges that had been targeted by terrorist attacks in recent years, including assasinated prosecutor general Hisham Barakat (watch, runtime: 4:59). The president also separately awarded an honorable mention to former interim president and chief justice Adly Mansour, who Adib praised for his role in contributing to political stability following the 2011 revolution (watch, runtime: 5:02).

It was a quiet weekend in the foreign press, with the sole story of note being a Reuters piece reporting that “Egyptian authorities said on Thursday they had blocked a scheme aimed at financing the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood” and “alleged a link to Juhayna founder Safwan Thabet,” who remains in detention along with CEO Seif Thabet. “The Thabet family have denied any wrongdoing in statements on social media,” the story added.

ELSEWHERE- A Brookings piece by CIA analyst Bruce Riedel on how the implications of Anwar El Sadat’s assasination on the Middle East — from the creation of Hezbollah to the rise of the most wanted terrorist Ayman Al Zawahiri — are still unfolding 40 years after his death. Riedel outlines predictions he made in a paper published at that time on the prospects for succession if Sadat was killed — all of which came true.

A syndicate of banks led by SAIB have agreed to lend Kharafi National for Infrastructure Projects EGP 1.2 bn, the bank announced, without providing further detail on how the funding would be deployed. The syndicate also includes the Export Development Bank of Egypt, the Arab Investment Bank, Industrial Development and Workers Bank and Al Baraka Bank Egypt.

The untold story of the government’s court battle with an Egyptian-turned-Finnish mining investor: Egypt has requested that a US Federal court to stay proceedings on a lawsuit filed against it by embattled mining investor Mohamed Abdel Raouf Bahgat. Bahgat recently took to litigation in order to enforce a USD 115 mn arbitral award he had won against the government in 2019 over the loss of his business and his imprisonment a decade ago, according to Law360.

Other things we’re keeping an eye on this morning:

• Banque Misr has a potential pipeline of 39 syndicated agreements worth up to EGP 124 bn — with its own contribution (pdf) amounting to EGP 42 bn and covering financing for real estate, tourism, transport, oil and gas, petrochemicals, electricity, education, and automotives.
• Qatar Airways to increase flights to Egypt: The airline increased the number of flights between Doha and Cairo to three a day on 1 October — and will begin a new 2x weekly route between Doha and Sharm El Sheikh on 3 December. The carrier will also resume 4x weekly trips to Luxor on 23 November.
• The EDA has introduced new quality standards for pharma products to ensure their safety.
• Land freight heading into Sudan has been suspended since 27 September after protesters blocked the road to Khartoum, trapping hundreds of vehicles including a dozen Egyptian trucks.
• Egyptian Iron and Steel will pay its former workers EGP 14k for each year worked — with a cap of EGP 450k — under the terms of an agreement (pdf) reached as part of the state-owned company’s liquidation process.

Egypt has been selected as the nominee to host the COP27 UN climate conference, which is scheduled to take place next year, US Climate Envoy John Kerry said yesterday, according to Reuters. The Conference of the Parties (COP) — countries that had signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change — is chaired by a different country representing a different region each year. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi officially announced Egypt’s bid to host the 2022 iteration — to be hosted in Africa — in an address to the UN general assembly last month. This year’s COP26 conference is set to take place in Glasgow in November.

IN OTHER DIPLOMACY NEWS- PM Madbouly discusses mega projects in sit-down with Jordanian counterpart: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly discussed bilateral ties and national mega projects during a meeting yesterday with his Jordanian counterpart, Bisher Al-Khasawneh, in the new administrative capital’s cabinet headquarters, cabinet said in a statement. The two touched on exchanging expertise in big-ticket infrastructure investment and private-sector-led economic development, among other things. Al Khasawneh landed in Cairo on Thursday heading a Jordanian government delegation. This was the latest fixture amid Egypt’s continued push for infrastructure diplomacy.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stressed Egypt’s support for national reconciliation in Libya during a meeting with the vice president of the Libyan Presidential Council, Abdullah Al Lafi, according to a foreign ministry statement. The civil-war torn country is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections as scheduled on 24 December after rival parties agreed on a political roadmap earlier in 2021 that could end decades of conflict. Egypt has been calling for international effort to hold the elections on time, with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi bringing up the topic during talks last week with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

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

October: Romanian President Klaus Iohannis could visit Egypt mid this month to discuss ways to boost tourism cooperation between the two countries.

2-4 October (Saturday-Monday): Techne Summit, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt.

5 October (Tuesday): Senate returns from recess; new legislative session begins.

6 October (Wednesday): Armed Forces Day.

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

9 October (Saturday): Public schools begin 2021-2022 academic year

11-17 October (Monday-Sunday): IMF + World Bank Annual Meetings.

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

18 October (Monday): E-Finance begins trading on EGX.

18 October (Monday): Prophet’s Birthday.

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

24-28 October (Sunday-Thursday) Cairo Water Week, Cairo, Egypt.

27-28 October (Wednesday-Thursday) Intelligent Cities Exhibition & Conference, Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski, Cairo, Egypt.

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

28 October (Thursday): Second tranche of overdue subsidy payouts will be handed to eligible exporters.

30 October – 4 November (Saturday-Thursday): The first edition of Race The Legends, Egypt.

November: The French-Egyptian Business Forum is set to take place in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

November: Egypt will host another round of talks to reach a potential Egyptian-Eurasian trade agreement, which can significantly contribute to increasing the volume of Egyptian exports to the Russia-led bloc that includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

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

2-3 November (Tuesday-Wednesday): The Federal Reserve meets to review interest rates.

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

16-17 November (Tuesday-Wednesday): Africa fintech summit, Cairo.

26 November-5 December (Friday-Sunday): The 43rd Cairo International Film Festival.

29 November-2 December (Monday-Thursday): Egypt Defense Expo, Egypt International Exhibition Centre.

7-8 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): North Africa Trade Finance Summit.

8-10 December (Wednesday-Thursday): Global Forum for Higher Education and Scientific Research (GFHS), Cairo, Egypt.

12-14 December (Sunday-Tuesday): Food Africa Cairo trade exhibition, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

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

14-19 December (Tuesday-Sunday): The Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theater.

14-15 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): The Federal Reserve meets to review interest rates.

15 December (Wednesday): Deadline for joint stock companies and investment companies in Cairo to join e-invoicing platform.

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

1Q2022: Launch of the Egyptian Commodities Exchange.

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.

22-24 April 2022: World Bank-IMF spring meeting, Washington D.C.

May 2022: Investment in Logistics Conference, Cairo, Egypt

16 June 2022 (Thursday): End of 2021-2022 academic year for public schools

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

2H2022: IEF-IGU Ministerial Gas Forum, Egypt. Date + location TBA.

**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.