A surprising slow news day so far, ladies and gentlemen, which kind of makes us wish we had our Christmas party today.

Nothing groundbreaking has happened on the local front so far except Vice Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk’s comments at the Egypt Economic Summit, where he revealed that the government is in talks to line up more development finance funding for green projects. The government is looking to have green projects make up half of all new projects by 2024 from a current 30%, Kouchouk said, according to the local press.

PSA- Today is the deadline for joint stock companies and investment companies in Cairo to join the government’s e-invoicing platform. As of today, more than 3.7k companies in the capital will be required to be on the system and start issuing electronic invoices for B2B transactions. Some 2.8k large taxpayers have signed up to the Finance Ministry’s new digital platform over several phases going back to November 2020.

Edita is still working to complete due diligence on its acquisition of the Ole brand owner Egyptian Belgian Company, officials at the company we reached out to told Enterprise. Edita previously said it expected to wrap up due diligence on the acquisition by today.

Will USD 100 mn for SME funding from the EBRD be getting a sign off today? The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is expected to give its final approval for a USD 100 mn facility to state-owned Banque Misr to finance local SMEs working on green projects.

Fed finger hovers over the fast-forward button: The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a doubling of the speed at which it plans to taper its stimulus program, as well as officials’ support for two interest rate increases next year, and three or four more hikes in 2023, the Financial Times reports. The US central bank’s policy statement and projections are expected to be released at around 9pm Cairo time, after it wraps up its two-day December meeting.

The Fed’s hawkish turn has traders spooked: After more than a year of easy gains, Fed head Jay Powell’s increasing seriousness on inflation has seen the markets start to wobble, Bloomberg reports. Certain key exchange traded funds (ETFs), as well as Bitcoin and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 start to wobble, with the latter posting 7 losses in its last 13 sessions

The BoE and ECB will each be holding their rate meetings tomorrow: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde finds herself in the unenviable position of reckoning with record inflation at the same time as growth is hit by a rapid spread of Omicron in several eurozone economies. She is expected to stick to her call that price hikes are transitory, while announcing a winding-down of some covid stimulus measures come next spring. Meanwhile, the Bank of England will come under increased pressure to raise rates tomorrow after the release of new figures today, showing that UK inflation hit its highest in a decade in November.

REMINDER- Tomorrow is also Egypt’s final interest rate meeting of 2021: All 11 economists and analysts we surveyed expect the Central Bank of Egypt’s MonetaryPolicy Committee to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets this Thursday for its final gathering of the year. The still-unfolding situation with the Omicron variant is giving policymakers everywhere pause and a lower-than-expected November inflation reading could give the MPC some breathing room.

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

• The Aldar / ADQ consortium and SODIC are now hitched: Emirati real estate giant Aldar Properties and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ officially took ownership of 85.5% of SODIC’s shares after the acquisition was executed during yesterday’s EGX trading session.
• Danone is looking to invest EGP 1 bn in Egypt over the next five years, which would double the company’s total investments in the country.
• CBE offers support for distressed SMEs: Financially-distressed SMEs at risk of default will be given more time to settle their debts under a raft of new decisions the Central Bank of Egypt announced this week.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Biden keeps the ball rolling on US China boycotts: The White House is set to add eight further Chinese companies — including the world’s largest commercial dronemaker, DJI —to its “Chinese military-industrial complex companies” blacklist on Thursday, the Financial Times reports, citing two sources briefed on the decision. The eight companies have all allegedly beein involved in surveillance of China’s Uyghur Muslim population. The US has in recent weeks stepped up policy measures against China over its persecution of the minority group in China’s Xinjiang region, with the House of Representatives yesterday passing legislation that would ban imports from the region. Biden will now sign the bill into law — but the White House will also have to grapple with further potential disruption to global supply chains and Democrats’ renewable energy plans, with Xinjiang counting among the biggest producers of solar panel components, Reuters reports.

It’s otherwise fairly quiet on the global front pages — other than that brewing war between Russia and NATO over Ukraine. The European Council has prepared a set of sanctions against Russia and is ready to take “unprecedented measures with serious consequences” if Moscow does not de-escalate, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech today. Russia has been amassing troops on its border with Ukraine and could be planning to invade the country as early as next year, according to US intelligence, sparking the ire of the G7. Meanwhile, the US has been less forthright than Europe, opting to use “diplomatic concession” in attempts to dissuade Moscow from its plans.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The UN Convention Against Corruption in Sharm El Sheikh is on its third day today. The event wraps this coming Friday, 17 December.

The Arab Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Aswan is underway and runs until tomorrow.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Cold days ahead: The mercury has dipped under the 20°C mark and is staying there for the next week. Expect a daytime high of 19°C tomorrow and a nighttime low of 11°C, our favorite weather app tells us.