TL;DR

• Is Russia nearing an agreement to build four nuclear stations in Egypt as part of USD 5 bn pact?
• Is Russia building a new anti-Daesh coalition — one that includes Al-Assad?
• Egypt in talks for French Mistral chopper carriers
• EGP hits 8.00 against on the parallel market
• A most unusual ‘megaproject’: NUCA says it has agreed to financial terms on Safari Park contract. But what is the project, exactly?
• Candidates for sale, provided they’re not preachers?

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

Markets were mixed yesterday as a tumultuous trading week came to a close in the Arab world:The EGX closed up slightly on incredibly thin volumes (about 39% below the 90-day average), while Saudi’s Tadawul and the DFM were both down. The Dow closed up 619 points in the last hour, breaking a six-session losing streak, while Asian shares failed to respond to another interest rate cut in China. Notably: With markets still roiling, the U.S. Fed appears to be backing off from a September interest rate hike.

The Arab League has postponed a meeting of the Joint Defense Council originally scheduled for today. The postponement was at the request of Saudi Arabia; a later date will be set for the meeting, according to Al Masry Al Youm.

What didn’t happen this week? Despite persistent reports to the contrary in media outlets, a new prosecutor-general has yet to be appointed.

We close the week with questions from the People’s Democratic Republic of Maadi: What’s with the traffic and walk / don’t walk lights popping up all around our fair district? Are we really expected to use them when / if they should ever be turned on? Will the powers that be ever fill-in and pave-over the trenches they’ve dug for the electrical wiring? Whose idea were they, anyway? And if they’re ever turned on, does this mean the local council might consider taking out all of the matabat?

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING FOR NEXT WEEK

The Future of Energy in Egypt envisions Egypt becoming one of the Middle East’s top five energy exporters by 2030. The summit takes place 31 August – 1 September in Cairo.

The Emirates NBD / Markit Economics Purchasing Managers’ Index for Egypt (as well as those for the UAE and Saudi) will drop on 3 September at around 7:30am CLT.

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

Rania Badawi, filling in for Amr Adeeb, was at the helm of tonight’s episode of Al Qahera Al Youm. As you may have predicted, her focus was squarely on President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s visit to Russia.

Badawi began with a short segment documenting the traits that El-Sisi President Bootin share: “They both became president at a time when their respective countries were in difficult straits… Additionally, they both have a long history working in military intelligence. This has shaped them into individuals who are composed and precise.”

Shortly after the segment ended, Mahmoud Muslim, Senior Editor at Al Masry Al Youm, called-in from Moscow to provide viewers with color commentary.

Muslim: “Russia is one of the few countries that consider the Ikhwan a terrorist organization. … Egypt and Russia’s common goal to fight terrorism has played a huge role in bringing these two countries closer together. … The presidents discussed a plan to establish an international coalition to fight terrorism across the globe.”

Meanwhile, Khairy Ramadan kicked-off Wednesday’s edition of Momken with an unexpected (but on-point) segment on depression among Egypt’s youth.

Ramadan: “Depression is like a black room with no windows; once you’re inside, it becomes very difficult to leave. Approximately 80% of suicides that take place in our country are youth. This is a very worrisome trend.”

To his credit, Ramadan ended the segment on a positive note by providing viewers with a very relevant feel-good story. “There are young people who refuse to submit to despair. Just today, Ihab Abdelrahmanbecame the first Egyptian to win a medal at the World Athletic Championship. This silver medal-holder had to train for the London Olympics with ripped shoes, as the sports ministry had refused to provide him with the necessary financial support. Nevertheless, he persevered. He refused to give up to the obstacles that stood in his way. And now look at him; he has made his country proud.”

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SPEED ROUND

The following paragraph has been corrected to note that no final agreement with Rosatom has been signed yet.

President El Sisi’s state visit to Moscow: Energy agreements and an anti-Daesh coalition that includes Bashar Al Assad top the news. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in his third state visit to Moscow. During the presidents’ joint press conference (watching time 25:57), Putin said “professionals of both countries are finalising the process constructing the [Daba’a] nuclear power plant” but there was no final agreement signed yet. In February, Rosatom’s President Sergey Kirienko signed a USD 5 bn MoU with Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker to build four nuclear power plants at the Daba’a site, each with a capacity of of 1,200 MW. This follows Tuesday’s agreement between Russian Tomsk State University (TSU) and the Russian University in Cairo to train Egyptian students in the atomic sciences. Also on the energy front: EGAS and Gazprom signed an LNG import arrangement, the parameters of which are unclear when comparing reports from the Egyptian media to that of Russia’s state news agency TASS, as noted in the summary below in our Energy section. In other business-related developments, talks regarding a Russian industrial zone stationed at the Suez Canal Axis are still ongoing, as are discussions on further economic cooperation between Egypt and the Eurasian Economic Union.

Another anti-Daesh coalition, this time including Assad? As we had noted in yesterday’s issue, Syria was a main focus of discussion, not only between the two presidents, but also between other Arab leaders gathered in Moscow, including Jordan’s King Abdullah, who met with President El Sisi on Wednesday (Ittihadiya readout courtesy of Al-Ahram). One of the more striking announcements to come out of the talks was Putin’s claim during a joint press conference that both Russia and Egypt endorse a Russian initiative to form a coalition to fight Daesh — a coalition that includes Bashar Al Assad as one of its partners.

If Egypt were to confirm its endorsement of the coalition, it would mark a clean break from Saudi foreign policy: Despite the gathering including Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and King Abdullah of Jordan, Putin only named Egypt as a supporter of the proposed initiative. While Egypt has been issuing statements for some time now with regard to a political solution to the Syrian civil war that would manage to keep the Syrian state intact, Egypt has managed to vaguely placate both opposing strategies to the resolution of the war. The move to support the Russian take on the conflict, if confirmed, would put Cairo in direct confrontation with Riyadh, whose foreign ministry explicitly rejected such an initiative earlier this month. “Our position has not changed… there is no place for Assad in the future of Syria. … We think that Bashar al-Assad is part of the problem, not part of the solution,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir was quoted as saying during his visit to Russia on 11 August.

Ulterior motives behind Russia’s anti-Daesh coalition? Anna Borshchevskaya of the Washington Institute writes that Russia is exploiting the West’s wavering position on Assad’s future in Syria. Borshchevskaya argues that Putin’s rounds of diplomatic talks, ostensibly aimed at bringing the Syrian civil war to an end, are really a bid to bolster his image abroad as well as to help him achieve domestic security goals. (Read ‘Russia’s Self-Serving Approach to Syrian Peace Talks’).

In other security news: Egypt is in talks to buy two Mistral helicopter carriers from France after their sale to Russia was cancelled earlier this month, two sources close to the matter told Reuters. The Mistral, the newswire describes it, “is known as the Swiss army knife of the French navy for its versatility. It can hold up to 16 helicopters and 1,000 troops.” How the agreement will be finance remains unclear, but a source said it would likely be financed partly using money from GCC allies. As we reported at the beginning of August, France24 had suggested that “King Salman of Saudi Arabia wants to build a fleet in Egypt which could project regional power in the Red Sea and Mediterranean.” As any first-year military science student can tell you, aircraft carriers are a lovely way to project power and control seas if you have the pilots to fly things off their decks.

The Mahlab government held its weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday, issuing a statement outlining its economic platform in light of deteriorating emerging markets, with its key tenets being addressing fiscal imbalances and deficits, expanding social justice, services and welfare, developing key infrastructure projects that will promote growth and alleviating hurdles to investment. In other words, just about everything it has ever promised to do for the economy, ever. Ministers also discussed the logistics the anticipated fall elections for the House of Representatives, but stopped short of releasing details of their talks. Other policy decisions included:

Economics:

• Green-lighting an electric railway line from Salam City to 10 Ramadan that will pass through the new administrative capital and other cities. The project will be financed and executed by the China’s CREEC-AVIC consortium. (Read in Arabic)
• Granting the Egyptian Electric Holding Company 78.4 feddan land in Beni Suef to build a steam power plant. (Read in Arabic)
• Fast-tracking 20 recommendations by the Ministerial Engineering Group which call for constructingroads, highways and utilities connecting the new administrative capital to the rest of the country. (Read in Arabic)
• Accepting a EUR 40 loan from the French Development Agency to finance a 20 MW solar power plant in Upper Egypt. (Read in Arabic)
• Leasing land to the company developing the third Cairo Metro line for use in the temporary storage of equipment (Read in Arabic)
• Approving a number of land grants and eminent domain expropriations for infrastructure projects throughout Egypt (Read in Arabic)

Foreign Policy

• Approving an agreement with South Korea for a USD 1 mn loan to finance a feasibility study for a technology institute in Al Amiria as a prototype for future projects (Read in Arabic)

Social Policy

• Drafting a Cheating Law that will criminalize the leaking of exams and other severe forms of cheating in schools with one year in prison and an EGP 20K fine (Read in Arabic)

Reuters profiled Switzerland’s Trafigura, one of the companies supplying LNG cargoes to Egypt, and how it is “adopting highly successful tactics used in oil markets, to get an edge in the burgeoning liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector.” The head of business intelligence at Poten & Partners says Trafigura is “taking the classic trading model from other energy markets and applying it to LNG, using infrastructure and shipping to take advantage of opportunities… they’re willing to go places other people aren’t, they’re willing to take risks that major oil companies aren’t” with the piece noting that Shell is fronting a significant chunk of supply for Trafigura’s various positions into Latin America and Egypt.

BRIEFLY NOTED- The EGP has fallen to 8.00 to the USD in the parallel market, Al-Borsa reports. The same newspaper also takes about 6.02×10^23 words to tell us that the new Ikea Egypt catalogue has arrived. Read Al-Borsa’s Ikea story here, or just go browse the catalogue online (that last one also has onward links to the Ikea app in the App and Play stores).

After a brief summer hiatus, veteran finance writer Patrick Werr is back in the saddle at the UAE’s The National. His weekly column on Egypt features a guest appearance by Wael Amin, partner at Sawari Ventures, chairman at ITWorx and all-around good guy, who helps shed light on the obstacles to (and potential benefits of) taking citizen services online. Werr writes: “Egypt does not lack the technical savvy to put government procedures online. Arabian Gulf countries are full of Egyptian techies who help governments go digital. The governments of other countries such as India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have been developing systems that could be put in place in Egypt, and they could be consulted. … ‘We have all it takes to do it. Will we put it on the national agenda? Today it’s not on it,’ says Wael Amin.” The obstacles include three building blocks: electronic identification, electronic payments and electronic signatures. Oh, and several mn recalcitrant civil servants.

The State Commissioners Authority has recommended that Ahmed Moussa be pulled off-air,Youm7 reported. It also recommended preventing Mortada Mansour, lawyer and Zamalek SC President, from appearing on any satellite television channel. The Commissioners Authority’s recommendation came after lawyer Tarek Al Awady filed a lawsuit to block both Moussa and Mansour from appearing on television.

Egypt withdraws from soccer competitions at African games: Egypt has withdrawn its men’s and women’s soccer teams from the All Africa Games in Republic of Congo, according to the AP citing the Confederation of African Football (CAF). CAF did not give a reason for the move.

Javelin thrower Ihab Abdel Rahman won Egypt its first ever World Athletics Championships medal after coming in second place at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, as noted in our talk show review above. You can watch Abdel Rahman’s silver medal-winning throw here (watching time 0:45) andpost-medal interview here (watching time 01:17).

***
A MESSAGE FROM PHAROS HOLDING

The EGP looks set to fall to 8.00 to the USD in the coming weeks and to 8.50 in 2016. You can thank a ‘Perfect Storm’ in emerging markets — and alarming CBE July data

We had accurately projected the two rounds of depreciation so far in 2015. Today, we project a third round to or above the EGP 8.00 per USD mark (average CBE auction rate) over the coming few weeks. We also see a fourth leg to / above the 8.50 mark in the first half of 2016. Why?

• The CBE’s reserve firepower has dwindled sharply in July 2015
• The near-term outlook for capital inflows has weakened materially post the recent rout in commodity prices; in the wake of the mass exodus from emerging markets; amid continued weakness in tourism receipts; and, most importantly, in the face of continued large-scale deficit monetization operations.
• Sustained loss of competitiveness amid flaring EM currency wars.

FX policy neutrality is no longer an option, in our view, and action will be taken sooner rather than later. This should provide a strong floor to Egyptian equities ahead of a projected Q4-15 rebound in oversold cyclical stocks and high-yield dividend plays.

Click here to read more on where we think you should be placing the EGP/USD rate in your 2016 budget.
***

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

The top story on Egypt in the foreign press on Wednesday evening and into the week hours of Thursday morning is cooperation between Egypt and Russia in the fight against international terrorism following Wednesday’s meeting between the two countries’ heads of state, such as AP’s report on the story. Tellingly, neither Al Arabiya nor UAE state news agency WAM made any mention of Putin’s statement of wishing to include Bashar Al Assad in a coalition against Daesh. Meanwhile:

Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik ran a disappointingly insulting op-ed on Egypt on Wednesday titled ‘Western Democracy Is An Endangered Species On Its Way To Extinction’: “The illegal Egyptian military dictatorship that overthrew on Washington’s orders the first democratically elected government in Egyptian history … the Egyptian military thugs, following Washington’s orders, have more or less eliminated all of the leadership of the political party that was democratically elected. The party was called the Muslim Brotherhood.” While the piece is written by an American, and seems to mostly target its ire at the United States, claiming that Western democracy is in its death throes — and despite the caveat that op-eds do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of its publication —  it is surprising that a highly regulated press would choose to publish this particular piece on the day President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is visiting Russia. It will be interesting to see if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs opts to ignore the piece, as it has been a vociferous commentator of late on critical pieces published on Egypt in the West.

“Is the law enough to combat terrorism in Egypt?” Al Hayat’s Mohamed Shouman asks. Shouman says Egypt’s new anti-terror act is not without precedent, saying the US enacted similar legislation after the 9/11 attacks. He is more concerned with the apparent conflict between supporters and opponents of the law, which he sees as disappointing because the two sides disagree only on the means of eradicating terrorism. Shouman notes that opponents of the legislation ask for a more comprehensive strategy that includes political, legal, and educational development. The government should instead welcome debates when it comes to enacting laws and not pass them without discussion. (Read in Arabic)

Asharq Al Awsat’s Abdullah Al Haydhah published a rant, attacking legendary Egyptian journalist and commentator Mohamed Hassanein Heikal. Al Haydhah’s main argument is that Heikal’s commentary is filled with “immense controversy and confusion that usually includes historical fallacies … and lack the ABCs of proper analysis.” Fundamentally, Al Haydhah is attacking what he thinks is Heikal cozying up to Iran at Saudi Arabia’s expense, despite “Saudi Arabia’s support to Egypt during the revolution,” following an interview with Lebanon’s Assafir. (Read in Arabic)

The International Business Times wrote ahead of Wednesday’s meeting between Putin and President El Sisi: ‘Russia To Provide ‘All-Round Assistance’ To Egypt To Fight International Terrorism.’ The article situates the meeting as part of an ongoing warming of ties between the two countries, including as joint military exercises, a steady growth of Egyptian agricultural exports to Russia, university training for Egyptian students, and numerous energy agreements.

WORTH READING

Securing the Sinai MFO Without a U.S. Drawdown, by Eric Trager. Trager’s latest for the Washington Institute argues against recent calls for the United States to draw down the Multinational Force of Observers (MFO) in the Sinai. Calls to end the MFO mission have risen again in the U.S., one of 12 states that contribute troops to the MFO, on concerns for their safety, given that the observers are lightly armed despite the threat of Daesh in the Sinai. Trager notes: “The Egyptian and Israeli governments have responded negatively to these deliberations, however. Both sides view the MFO as an important mechanism for facilitating bilateral cooperation, and they argue that ‘now is not the time’ for considering changes given the region’s political uncertainty.” (Read)

WORTH WATCHING

Omar Adel, recently profiled in an Egyptian media outlet, re-edits videos to exploit the inherent surrealism of Egyptian television and cinema, whereby his edits often produce the impression of effectively trapping characters in certain scenes, doomed to repeat their actions indefinitely, not unlike Sisyphus condemned to an eternity in Tartarus pushing a boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down again.

Nour El-Sherif, 28 April 1946 – 11 August 2015. Omar Adel’s re-edit of this scene featuring the late El-Sherif was published online a year before his passing, but the quirky charm of the re-edit, along with El-Sherif’s laughter and smile at its conclusion, serves as an oddly touching tribute to the late actor. (Watch in Arabic, running time: 1:24)

Merry-go round of accusations. (Watch in Arabic, running time: 1:32)

DIPLOMACY

It is too early to judge the “Iran agreement”: Egypt’s Presidency: Reports Ahram Online: “In a meeting Wednesday with the media delegation accompanying President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on his visit to Russia, spokesman Alaa Youssef said that the Egyptian presidency believes it is too early to judge the nuclear agreement signed by six leading world powers and Iran.”

ENERGY

Shell asks EGPC to amend pricing of ‘unconventional gas’ from Obayed
Al Borsa | 25 Aug 2015
Shell has asked EGPC to amend pricing of shale gas it is producing from the Obayed area as production costs rise, Al Borsa reported. Obayed is within the area in which Shell and Apache have signed an agreement to drill for shale gas. A source at EGPC said Shell is working with Apache currently to finalize assessing the estimates of gas in the area. The source also added that Egypt is now agreeing to reprice gas in order to account to for the risks being borne by IOCs and to help them accelerate production. (Read in Arabic)
IOCs to reduce production, energy import cost to fall, government source says
Al Borsa | 25 Aug 2015
IOCs operating in Egypt are expected to reduce their production following the drop in international oil prices, a government source told Al Borsa. He added that Egypt’s crude output is stuck at 695k bbl per day currently. However, the state’s energy importing costs are set to decrease, with the source expecting spending on energy to drop in 2H2015 given current energy prices internationally. (Read in Arabic)

EGP 400 mn in Alexandria Electricity Distribution Company arrears
Al Mal | 26 Aug 2015
The Alexandria Electricity Distribution Company has demanded EGP 400 mn in arrears from government bodies and private and public companies, company president Mohamed Ali Bakr said in a statement to Al Mal. The company is under strict orders to cut power from entities failing to meet their payments, he added. The Alexandria Electricity Distribution Company was allocated EGP 60 mn in investments for FY 2015/16 from the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) which will be used for maintenance jobs on plants and cables, in addition to installing street lights, a source within EEHC added. (Read in Arabic)

Egypt, China ink joint renewable energy lab agreement
Amwal Al Ghad | 26 Aug 2015
The China Electronic Technology Group inked an agreement with Egypt to build a joint renewable energy lab, as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s One Belt, One Road initiative to re-establish and develop China’s land and maritime trade routes. The 48th Research Institute, China’s leading renewable energy equipment manufacturer, will jointly administer the lab with oversight from Egypt’s Academy of Scientific Research and Technology. The lab will be built by the University of Tianjin and China Guodian Corporation. (Read in Arabic)

Russian Gazprom officially signs agreement to supply LNG to Egypt
Youm7, TASS | 26 Aug 2015
Russian global energy company Gazprom officially signed a agreement with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Egypt until 2019, citing Russian news agency Interfax. According to Youm7’s take of the Interfax story, Russia agreed to supply Egypt with 35 shipments of LNG over five years, with Egypt receiving seven shipments per year starting in 2015. (Read in Arabic) However, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reports: “Gazprom and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company struck an agreement to supply several LNG shipments to Egypt before 2019.” The TASS report may have been incomplete or unclear. A detailed confirmation of such an agreement should be forthcoming.

** Further reading in Energy: “The world’s first solar power plant was designed by American engineer Frank Shuman and commissioned in 1913 in Maadi, Egypt,” writes Matt Orosz in SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, in a slightly technical piece arguing for a combination of photovoltaic solar technology and concentrating solar power plants. (Read Photovoltaics and concentrating solar power: why hybridization makes sense)

BASIC MATERIALS + COMMODITIES

Mineral Resources Authority prepares to issue international E&P tender
Amwal Al Ghad | 26 Aug 2015
The Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA) is preparing to issue an international tender for minerals’ E&P within a few days. The tender will be for sites in the Eastern Desert as well as South Sinai. EMRA is also preparing a tender to explore for gold in concession areas by the Red Sea. (Read in Arabic)

Red Sea Ports Authority commissions five companies to build coal handling centre
Al Borsa | 25 Aug 2015
The Red Sea Ports Authority finalised agreements with five companies to build a centre handling and storing coal at the Adabiya Port, Al Borsa reported. The new centre will abide by the highest environmental standards as per the Environmental Affairs Ministry-issued guidelines. Red Sea Ports are now equipped to receive 100k tonnes of coal a month and the Red Sea Ports Authority aims to not have coal staying in transit at the port for longer than three days. (Read in Arabic)

MANUFACTURING

Government tasks governors to sign recycling agreements with fertiliser producers
Al Shorouk | 25 Aug 2015
The cabinet of ministers has tasked governors nationwide to sign agreements with fertiliser producers to collect and use waste for recycling, Urban Development Minister Laila Iskander said. Iskander also said that the government has a plan to reuse compost and organic waste to generate energy and provide alternative fuels. Adding to her comments, Alexandria’s Governor, Hani El Messiry, said recycling activities could currently generate a 3% return, a figure that he says could be increased in a short span of time. (Read in Arabic)

REAL ESTATE + HOUSING

A most unusual ‘megaproject’: NUCA says it has agreed to financial terms on Safari Park contract. But what is the project, exactly?
Al Borsa | 25 Aug 2015
The New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) has agreed on financial terms with 300 Years History company for a proposed USD 1.1 bn ‘Safari Park’ project in 6 October City. NUCA will receive EGP 700 mn three years from signing the contract — and a cut from the project’s income. The winning consortium — made up of UK-based Chipperfield Companies Group (pdf profile of the company), its subsidiary 300 Years History, Canada’s Maple Leaf, a Saudi investor, and a Russian company — founded Golden Safari for Real Estate and Touristic Investment. The first phase will cost USD 150 mn and will be built over 14 months, while the timeframe for the entire project is five years, Al-Borsa reports. The consortium initially proposed the project in April of this year. The website for 300 Years History is a bit off, consisting largely of dummy text, with the header declaring: “Woow… The Safari Park concept revolutionized the exhibition of captive animals.” (We believe the intended effect was the Egyptianized English form of “wow,” which in local dialect is pronounced “waaow” by certain segments of Egyptian society. The website also features a highly unwatchable videothat opens by teasing viewers with a “mysterious new concept, the first of its kind in the region…” Parent company Chipperfield also runs a cafe in Cairo whose name we cannot mention because this is a family publication (however we can link to the site and warn our readers that the site features autoplay of an Arabized version of “Call Me Maybe.”)

NGCC awarded EGP 115 mn Sharqiya housing contract
Al Borsa | 25 Aug 2015
Hassan Allam’s Nasr General Contracting Company (NGCC) was awarded an EGP 115 mn contract to build 1.2k housing units in Sharqiya. The houses will be built as part of the social housing project on 96.5 feddans the Sharqiya governorate had allocated. Construction of the project is expected to take 24 months. (Read in Arabic)

TELECOMS + ICT

Raya to deliver 500 ATM machines to an unnamed bank
Al Borsa | 26 Aug 2015
Raya Information Technology announced it was awarded a contract to supply a public-sector bank with 500 ATM machines, Raya’s CEO Hesham Abdel Rassoul told Al Borsa. The total cost of the agreement is USD 10 mn and also involves the deployment of software systems. Abdel Rassoul said the company is also looking to expand in other African markets. (Read in Arabic)

Morpho increases investments to EGP 1.4 bn over two years
Al Borsa | 26 Aug 2015
French electronic security solutions player Morpho plans to increase its investments in the local market to EGP 1.4 bn in the coming two years by building EGP 800 mn in e-Readers, electronic gates. and bomb detector production lines, according to regional manager Waleed Fouad. (Read in Arabic)

BANKING + FINANCE

Emerging Markets Payments Group launches instant debit card issuance feature
Al Mal | 26 Aug 2015
Emerging Markets Payments Group (EMP), a leading electronic payment services provider in the MENA region, announced a new feature allowing banks to instantly issue debit cards from any branch, significantly reducing waiting times, and increasing customer satisfaction. Additionally, the feature will allow banks to print client information on the cards, activate the card, and renew, replace, or print additional cards instantaneously. (Read in Arabic)

OTHER BUSINESS NEWS OF NOTE

e-Finance targets issuing 1.5 mn Takaful and Karama smart cards by end of 2016
Al Borsa | 26 Aug 2015
e-Finance is aiming to issue issuing 1.5 mn smart cards for the Takaful and Karama cash transfer programmes by the end of 2016. The company has already issued 500k cards for the two Social Solidarity Ministry programmes, which provide an income source for families of unemployed breadwinners. Takaful provides a monthly cash transfer of EGP 400-550 per household whereas Karama dispenses EGP 350 a month for those over the age of 60 years old. (Read in Arabic)

EGYPT POLITICS + ECONOMICS

Candidates for sale, provided they’re not preachers?
Daily News Egypt, Egypt Independent | 26 Aug 2015
The FreeEgyptians Party (FEP) and Al-Wafd parties have denied they’re paying off popular would-be political candidates to run under their parties’ banners. Their statements followed a Regional Center for Strategic Studies report that alleged the two parties topped a list of eight factions dangling money to lure ‘local stars’ — often with ties to the former National Democratic Party machinery — to run for office. Al Wafd says it doesn’t have the cash, while the FEP say they have no need to resort to dirty tricks. The news comes as the Ministry of Awqaf is asking preachers not to throw their hats into the ring for a seat in the House of Representatives, saying they should remain “fully dedicated to their missionary message through pulpits and mosques.”

Committee to Protect Journalists denounces newspaper ‘censorship’
Daily News Egypt, Al Mal | 26 Aug 2015
The New York-based Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) has condemned what it calls a recent wave of censorship targeting newspapers in Egypt, saying the anti-terrorism law passed earlier this month was the main reason behind three newspapers being censored. Sout Al Omma’s 14 August issue was pulled, so was an issue of Al-Mesryoon, while Al Sabah had an opinion piece censored. Coincidentally, the Administrative Court just tasked the Syndicate of Journalists with financially compensating unemployed journalists, while also finding means to employ them. (Read or Read in Arabic)

NATIONAL SECURITY

The Council of Ministers has authorized the establishment of a Personnel Affairs Department within the Ministry of Interior, Al Masry Al Youm reported. The department will provide “support and assistance” to Egypt’s police force, including treatment of injured police personnel domestically and abroad and the establishment of tourism and entertainment programs for members of the force.

Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for an attack in Al Arish that claimed the lives of two non-commissioned officers in the police service, Ahram Online reports. The two men were killed on their way to work, Daily News Egypt reports. In other news from Sinai, the armed forces have reportedly destroyed an arms cache in Sheikh Zuweid. Elsewhere yesterday, military patrols captured ammunition dumps and prevented illegal border crossings into Libya, according to reports in the domestic press.

A prisoner in Fayoum became the second to die in police custody within three days earlier this week, a rights group alleges, picking up on a complaint by the Ikhwan’s Freedom and Justice party. The detainee was allegedly denied medical care.

ON YOUR WAY OUT

Egypt Post is seeking bids to install solar panels on 53 post office buildings in five governorates. Bid document have been taken out by some 20 companies, Al Borsa reported, with offers expected in the coming two weeks.

The Arab cooperation chapter of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) met with a delegation from Jordan’s chamber of commerce on Wednesday to discuss increasing bilateral trade. Trade and Industry Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour was in attendance as well as FEI’s Chairman, Mohamed El Sewedy.

ExxonMobil Egypt announced it will be sponsoring MECA, a non-profit student to student educational initiative, for the fourth consecutive year. MECA provides professional training for college students to bridge the gap between academia and the labour market and was created by students at Ain Shams University in Cairo.

Consumers buying (presumably state-made) products will have a new line of defense from counterfeits, the Ministry of Supply and Domestic Trade and Ministry of Military Production said yesterday as they inked a protocol to launch an “interactive registered trademarks protection system,” Ahram Gatereported. The system will involve placing stickers with randomly generated codes on them, allowing you to verify the authenticity of the product with an SMS. (The absence of any Ministry of Trade and Industry agencies at the table leads us to conclude this the program is focused on government-produced products that wind up in coops, state-owned retail outlets and the subsidy program, among others. Passing mention is made of other manufacturers being welcome to participate in the program for a fee.)

Burger King is calling on McDonald’s to sell a McWhopper, a blend of the Big Mac and the Whopper, one restaurant for one day staffed by employees of both companies. “Sales proceeds would be donated to Peace One Day, a nonprofit group seeking to raise awareness of the International Day of Peace, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 for the opening of its annual meeting,”NYT said noting, very importantly, that “there’s no word about which of the chains would supply fries.”

BY THE NUMBERS

USD CBE auction (Tuesday, 25 August): 7.7301 (unchanged since Sunday, 05 July)
USD parallel market (Tuesday, 25 August): 7.97 (+0.02 from Sunday, 23 August, Reuters)

EGX30 (Wednesday): 6,873.49 (+0.53%)
Turnover: EGP 284.4 mn (39% below the 90-day average)

WTI: USD 38.60 (-1.81%)
Brent: USD 43.61 (+0.40%)

TASI: 7,384.5 (-2.1%)
ADX: 4,329.9 (-0.1%)
DFM: 3,507.3 (-1.4%)
KSE Weighted Index: 388.0 (-0.33%)
QE: 10,957.6 (+0.5%)
MSM: 5,782.0 (+0.4%)