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Wednesday, 6 September 2017

On the horizon

The 2017 Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Global Policy Forum is set for 13-15 September in Sharm El Sheikh, according to Al Shorouk. The Central Bank of Egypt will be welcoming central bankers and senior government officials from 94 countries and 119 international institutions, which could make the event AFI’s “ largest and most comprehensive” to date. You can check the agenda here.

The Council of State is set to start reviewing the Investment Act’s executiveregulations next week and conclude before the end of the month, sources tell Al Borsa. Implementation will then be pending Cabinet approval.

Diverging opinions within the US Fed on interest rate hikes: US Fed governors have come out with statements urging caution about the notion of raising interest rates ahead of the Fed Policy meeting on 19-20 September. Fed governors Lael Brainard and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari have expressed reservations on a rate hike, with the central issue being continued low inflation. In a speech on Tuesday, Brainard said that the weakness of price growth over the past five years was “troubling” and suggested that the Fed should be cautious about tightening further until its officials were confident inflation was back on track, according to the Financial Times. Kashkari took it a step further, attacking the whole policy of money tightening over the past 18 months, saying it was doing “real harm” to the US economy and leading to slower job and wage growth, Bloomberg reports.

Our central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will be meeting on 28 September to decide on Egypt’s interest rates. We don’t expect rates to be lowered until the end of the year, when the CBE can point to falling inflation thanks to the high base effect of late 2017.

Egypt to sign EUR 172 mn loan agreement with European Investment Bank: The Investment and International Cooperation Ministry will sign a EUR 172 mn loan agreement with the European Investment Bank this month to fund wastewater treatment projects, sources tell Al Mal. This will be on the sidelines of the EIB MED Conference in Cairo on 13 September. The bank will also provide Egypt with a EUR 400k grant for development projects in Alexandria, sources say. You can find the event’s agenda here.

Telecom Egypt will roll out mobile services nationwide this month, sources tell Youm7,dismissing local media reports suggesting the service will be limited to certain governorates. Commercial launch is now pending regulatory approvals and TE’s numbers will start with 0155.

A UK trade delegation headed by trade envoy Sir Jeffrey Donaldson will be visiting Egypt this month to discuss investments in infrastructure.

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