Good morning, friends — and welcome to week #49 of 2021. We’ve got fresh PMI figures, a refreshingly Omicron-free news flow, and mixed news for all of us who want an acceleration of financial inclusion. On one hand, fintech startups in emerging economies are flourishing and are starting to overtake the old guardians of the global payments system. On the other, we have a new report that suggests that almost 40% of the world’s population have never used the internet, a figure that puts into perspective what it will take to integrate people of developing countries into the modern economy.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

November’s PMI results are in — and they’re much the same as October: Non-oil business activity shrank “moderately” during November, remaining unchanged from the month prior as supply chain bottlenecks and inflationary pressures continued to weigh on private sector firms. The latest PMI reading (pdf) means that private sector activity has now been in contraction for a full year

** In case you missed it: We featured the brains behind Egypt’s PMI indicator — IHS Markit economist David Owen — in last week’s My Morning Routine column. Check it out here.

^^ We’ll have the full story in tomorrow’s EnterpriseAM.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from this morning’s EnterpriseAM:

• Max LNG: Egypt’s LNG terminals are running at full capacity as the country tries to capitalize on the surge in natural gas prices overseas, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla has said.
• More energy price hikes: The Oil Ministry has hiked the price of butane gas cylinders by 7.7% for households and businesses.
• Omicron and the global economy are not friends: The IMF is likely to downgrade its growth forecast for the global economy due to the spread of the Omicron variant, which is causing new travel restrictions and volatility in the financial markets.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

It’s all about Biden and Putin’s upcoming talks on Ukraine: US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are expected to talk on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Ukraine. Tension between the two sides has been rising as a buildup of Russian military forces on Ukraine’s border has fuelled speculation in Western capitals that Moscow is planning to invade the country. Last week Putin vowed a strong response should Nato deploy missile systems and troops in Ukraine after the US and Nato warned of “serious consequences” should Russia invade the ex-Soviet state. (The AP | Reuters | The Guardian | BBC News)

Meanwhile in South America, the “world’s coolest dictator” is fast becoming the world’s brokest dictator, after BTC fell off a cliff overnight falling about USD 10k. Fears of Omicron triggered the cryptocurrency selloff, which saw the coin fall to a three-month low of USD 42k. El Salvador, who under the tutelage of President Nayib Bukele became the first country in the world to make BTC legal tender, bought the dip. After a partial recovery, BTC currently sits at USD 49.4k as of dispatch time. (CNBC | Forbes | NBC | Wall Street Journal | CNN | Bloomberg)

THIS WEEK-

Cairo plays host to a spate of year-end conferences this week:

• The two-day North Africa Trade Finance Summit starts Tuesday, bringing together business leaders, people from the financial industry, logistics experts and policymakers to discuss trade finance.
• Global Forum for Higher Education and Scientific Research runs Wednesday through to Friday at the St. Regis Al Masa Convention Center.
• The Cairo Woodshow kicks off on Thursday at the Cairo International Convention Center.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

News triggers to keep your eye on:

• Foreign reserves: November’s foreign reserves figures will be released this week.
• Inflation: Inflation figures for November will be released this Thursday, 9 December. Data for inflation typically appears on the 10th of every month, but is moved up one day if that falls on a Friday.
• Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee will hold its final meeting for the year to review interest rates on Thursday, 16 December.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Hello, winter. Expect a daytime high of 22°C tomorrow and a nighttime low of 15°C, according to our favorite weather app.