Tuesday is our least favourite day of the week, so let us start with some good news to brighten things up around here:

You can expect clarity “within days” on what, exactly, you’re paying as taxes into the new healthcare system, according to remarks attributed yesterday by the domestic press to Finance Minister Mohamed Maait. The Tax Authority will soon make clear how it will calculate every business’ mandatory contributions to the national healthcare system, which include a 0.25% tithe on revenues as well as a per-employee contribution. Business has been lobbying to convert the 0.25% levy on revenues (which is not tax deductible in its current form) into a separate surtax on profits instead. With the April tax filing deadline looming, clarity will be a very welcome thing indeed.

SMART POLICY #1- Egypt is targeting lower yields on local debt in the next fiscal year, Mirette Magdy reports for Bloomberg, writing that the government is targeting a 15.5% average yield on treasury bills and bonds against 18% in the current FY. Magdy quotes EFG Hermes’ Mohamed Abu Basha as saying that investors are likely to “keep decent exposure to the Egyptian market” nonetheless.

SMART POLICY #2- The Red Sea governorate is banning single-use plastics. Setting aside our genetic predisposition to sarcasm and criticism, may we suggest that the Red Sea governorate’s planned ban starting in June on plastic bags, straws, forks, cups and knives is very sound policy? Whether or not that includes bottled water, either way it will be hell to enforce, but still…

The global economy got some reasonable news yesterday as US and Chinese manufacturing data suggested the world’s two largest economies perked up in March, the WSJ notes. Europe’s manufacturing sector, meanwhile, suffered its biggest fall in output in six years.

Among the domestic events and news triggers you can expect in the next couple of days:

• AmCham’s Doorknock lobbying tour of Washington, DC, continues until Friday. We have our first report from the road in this morning’s Speed Round, below.
• The Markit / Emirates NBD purchasing managers’ index for March is expected on Thursday. The index, which surveys non-oil business activity in Egypt, fell to a 17-month low in last month’s reading.
• The CBE’s net foreign reserves position is due out sometime this week. Reserves climbed to USD 44.060 bn at the end of February.
• Egypt’s monthly inflation figures, from both the central bank and CAPMAS, are expected on 10 April. Annual headline inflation accelerated to 14.4% in February, up from 12.7% the previous month.
• Renaissance Capital’s annual Egypt Investors Conference in Cape Town on 9-10 April. EGX Chairman Mohamed Farid will deliver the keynote address on expanding the role of capital markets in Egypt’s economy. Tap or click here to view the preliminary agenda for the event (pdf).

Aramco generates more profit than Apple, ExxonMobil and Amazon — combined. Saudi Aramco reported earnings of USD 111 bn last year in a prospectus released to investors ahead of an expected USD 10 bn bond issuance, Bloomberg reports. The issuance is intended to finance the USD 69.1 bn acquisition of a 70% stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC). The world’s top oil producer’s 2018 earnings were well ahead of Apple’s reported USD 60 bn, Exxon’s USD 21 bn, and Amazon’s USD 10 bn. The WSJ has more.

Other regional news worth noting this morning:

• Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will step down by the end of the month when his term comes to an end, according to media reports.
• Dubai fears the end of its “build it and they will come” model, the Financial Times writes in its Big Read.
• March saw OPEC’s oil supply sink to a four-year low, “as top exporter Saudi Arabia over-delivered on the group’s supply-cutting pact while Venezuelan output fell further due to sanctions and power outages,” Reuters reports.
• Israeli-Gulf relations warming? Four Israeli speakers will be featured for the first time at Bahrain’s three-day Global Entrepreneurship Congress in mid-April, reflecting a growing closeness between Israel and the Gulf, Bloomberg reports.

The “impossible” meatless Whopper is getting plenty of attention as Burger King plans the national rollout of its iconic hamburger filled with a vegetarian patty from the startup Impossible Foods. The story is getting tons of coverage in the US press, including Reuters and the New York Times.

PSA #1- Productivity isn’t about time management, but “attention management,” the New York Times writes. We’re suckers for these stories, even if our time might be better spent working than reading about how we might work more efficiently.

PSA #2- Spring seems to be coming to an end. Look for a high today of 24°C — and for the mercury to rise over the coming days into the low 30s by Sunday, according to our favourite weather app. You can also check out the Egyptian Meteorological Authority’s forecast.