Happy THURSDAY, friends — it’s finally the end of this busy workweek. We could have a four-day week coming up next: Expect an announcement this coming Sunday or Monday that we’re taking next Thursday off in observation of the 25 January holiday.

The Nutty Professor returns to show us he’s not all that nutty: The 74-year-old US professor we brought to you yesterday afternoon with his gloriously profane digital syllabus is out with another video explaining that his syllabus introduction was specifically designed to seem insane. The “scripted performance,” as he calls it — and which circulated on the internet without context — is meant to grab his students’ attention with the crazy suggestion that he might grade them arbitrarily and not based on their actual work. This is meant to be an exercise “to get them thinking about predestination” by experiencing what it’s like to have a strong preconceived notion and then unlearning it with time (watch, runtime: 5:09).

THE BIG STORY TODAY

We could have a trade agreement with South Korea soon: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in discussed today looking into setting up a bilateral trade liberalization agreement, according to the Korean press. The two sat down earlier for wide-ranging discussions, according to an Ittihadiya statement. Moon arrived in Egypt yesterday for a visit that will wrap tomorrow, marking the first time a South Korean president has been in town on official business in 16 years.

Korea is also set to provide us with soft loans worth USD 1 bn over the next five years to finance construction and infrastructure projects, including transport and water infrastructure, as per an MoU the two presidents signed today. South Korea’s ambassador in Cairo had announced the planned loan earlier this week.

Still to come: The two countries are expected to sign several more agreements while Moon is in town, including cooperation on EVs and electric microbuses, potential involvement from South Korea in the construction of the Dabaa nuclear power plant, and manufacturing giant Hyundai setting up a “production plant” in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

^^ We’ll have more on this story in Sunday’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

HAPPENING NOW-

Day 4 of digital Davos rolls on: A discussion on how space research can improve life on earth is set to begin minutes after we hit “send” on this afternoon’s edition, with the New York Times’ Deputy Managing Editor Rebecca Blumenstein, former US Vice President Al Gore, the UAE’s Minister of State for Advanced Technology Sarah Al Amiri, and European Space Agency officials speaking on the topic.

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

• Non-oil exports rose 26% y-o-y to hit a record USD 32 bn in 2021, up from USD 25.4 bn in 2020. The rise was underpinned by efforts to support exporters with subsidies and pay off arrears, restructure export councils, and bilateral and multilateral trade agreements.
• Maiden sovereign sukuk issuance inches closer: The Finance Ministry got the green light to start preparing to take its first sovereign sukuk issuance to international markets, after the Madbouly Cabinet signed off on the move yesterday.
• Egypt made it past the round of 16 in Afcon with a 1-0 victory against Sudan last night, putting the Pharaohs in the second spot in Group D, behind Nigeria.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

The economics-focused news cycle is far from abating, with a tale of two interest rate approaches: Erdonomics-lite is the new monetary policy Turkey appears to be pursuing, with its central bank deciding today to leave interest rates on hold, after a chaotic and unorthodox monetary easing spree that caused inflation to soar and the TRY to nosedive, Bloomberg reports. It’s unclear how long Ankara will hold off on further monetary easing, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had signaled earlier this week that further interest rate cuts will be introduced more gradually.

Meanwhile, China enacted more tiny rate cuts “to support a slowing economy” bogged down by its property market slump, the Wall Street Journal reports. Beijing cut its one-year loan prime rate by a marginal 10 bps, following a 5 bps cut to the same rate last month. The People’s Bank of China also reduced its five-year loan prime rate by 5 bps for the first time in nearly two years, bringing it down to 4.6%.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Cairo International Book Fair opens next Wednesday, 26 January at the Egypt International Exhibition Center. The event runs 13 days until 7 February.

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 nights ahead: Expect daytime highs in the range of 16-17°C over the weekend while the mercury will plunge to 6-7°C at night, according to our favorite weather app. Stay warm folks.