It’s another day of outstanding news, ladies and gentlemen, as we head to the pre-Ramadan sprint, with the positive signals being sent by both the Madbouly Cabinet and our regional allies on the economic front.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY

Gov’t has an outline of its long-term policy strategy to encourage private sector involvement in select sectors: The Madbouly Cabinet discussed today the broad strokes of its planned strategy to guide its decisions on how the state can back out of select sectors of the economy to open the door for private sector activity, while maintaining a foothold in sectors it deems necessary, according to a statement. The statement, which does not provide specific details on which sectors are expected to fall under each category, notes that the government is working on putting together a “comprehensive view” of which sectors the state will be involved in for the next three years. It outlines a “gradual exit” plan for the state from certain activities, which would be implemented in phases, while it will remain active in other sectors. Once the strategy is announced, the government will run an assessment of all state-held assets in the sectors it plans to exit and put in place a mechanism for these exits, the statement says.

On that front, Fawry sold a 6% stake in a EGP 1.05 bn block transaction, according to an announcement displayed on EGX screens today. The announcement does not specify the buyer, but the local press — including Hapi Journal, Al Mal, and Al Shorouk — appears to be in agreement that the unnamed entity is state-owned National Bank of Egypt (NBE). The transaction, which reportedly saw NBE purchasing the stake from foreign sellers, would raise its total stake in the fintech giant to 12.25%.

More good news today: It looks like we are getting deposits from the GCC after all. Saudi Arabia deposited USD 5 bn with the Central Bank of Egypt, on directives from King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said. The move, which the statement says “reinforces the bilateral relations between the two countries” and Riyadh’s efforts to continue supporting Cairo, is the latest show of support from our GCC friends since last week’s EGP depreciation and interest rate hike and the first to come in deposit form. Other allies have been showing their support through USD 7 bn in investments, with Abu Dhabi’s ADQ pledging USD 2 bn and Qatar pledging USD 5 bn.

^^We’ll have more on these stories and others in tomorrow’s EnterpriseAM.

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

• Lots of investment news: Qatar has agreed to invest USD 5 bn here “in the coming period,” as we grapple with the impact of surging food and energy prices on the back of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Qatar Energy also announced that it had agreed to acquire a 40% working interest in an Exxon–owned exploration block in the Mediterranean.
• Our wheat imports could hit a nine-year low: Egypt’s wheat imports in the marketing year 2022-2023 are expected to drop 8.3% y-o-y to 11 mn metric tonnes as the war cuts two of our biggest suppliers off from the export market.
• E-receipt system pilot to kick off in April: The Finance Ministry will launch its e-receipt system for B2C transactions this Friday, 1 April, to complement the ongoing rollout of its wider e-invoicing program.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Russian forces are making a u-turn amid heavy losses, with Moscow pulling back from certain areas in Ukraine after making a promise to de-escalate its military operations. But the forces are only retreating from areas where they have failed to make progress, and are now being “forced to return to Belarus and Russia to reorganize and resupply,” Britain's Defense Ministry said.

At the same time, Russian forces bombed Chernihiv, the besieged city in northern Ukraine, Reuters reported. The fresh attack came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned his country against letting down their guard, saying that “the scale of the challenges has not diminished.”

FOR TOMORROW- All individual taxpayers have until tomorrow to submit their 2021 tax returns to the Tax Authority. The deadline for companies with January-December fiscal years is 30 April.

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You can now apply to the Tatweer Misr Innovation Competition: This year’s edition of the competition is targeting innovators and entrepreneurs who have sustainable solutions that would benefit the real estate sector. This includes solutions tackling issues with the built environment, smart solutions that have a positive impact on resident’s livability, and solutions affecting wellness and recreation. Applicants, as individuals or teams, have until the end of April to apply for the competition.

Companies have a little less than two weeks to file their first quarterly ESG compliance report: Listed firms and non-bank financial services companies need to submit their first quarterly ESG report by 10 April, the FRA said (pdf) on Sunday. The regulator is making it mandatory for corporates to publicly disclose their performance on key environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics each year when they submit their annual financial statements, starting 2023.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- We’re hitting the 30s tomorrow: The mercury will rise to 30°C during the day tomorrow in the first bout of hot weather that promises to propel us into summer-like weather, our favorite weather app tells us. At night, temperatures will cool to 16°C.