** #8 The draft SMEs Act is expected to be made public within 10 days, SMEs Development Authority head Nevine Gamea said, according to Al Mal. According to Gamea, the authority has recently reviewed the bill with the CBE and expects to present it to the Madbouly Cabinet very soon. The draft law sets out incentives — mainly in the form of services and subsidized access to finance — for owners of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises to go legit and pay taxes.

Egypt will announce the CEO of its new sovereign wealth fund in a month and half’s time, Planning Minister Hala El Said said yesterday, according to local press reports. The ministry has formed a committee led by former central bank governor Farouk El Okda to select the person for the top job from a pool of some 60 applicants. Other notable names on the committee include CBE Deputy Governor Lobna Helal and National Bank of Egypt Executive Chairman Hisham Okasha. El Said also said that the executive regulations governing the SWF will be ready in two weeks’ time. A source in the know had previously told us that the regs would be ready for cabinet review at the start of November.