Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and happy Palm Sunday, Western Easter, and Passover to all those observing — which is a sizable bunch, if the volume of out of office replies we’ve received today is any indication.

SO, WHEN DO WE EAT? You’ll be breaking your fast at 6:23pm CLT this evening in the capital city, and fajr prayers are at 3:55am.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

Non-compliance with registration rules behind suspension from importer’s registry: The decision to temporarily suspend some international companies from the list of companies approved to export to Egypt was due to their failure to comply with factory registration requirements, the Trade Ministry said in a statement. The ministry’s General Organization for Export and Import Control (better known by its acronym, GOEIC) regularly reviews documents including quality certificates and trademarks, the ministry said, and companies whose documents have expired are given a two-week warning ahead of suspension decisions, the ministry said. Some 122 companies have already submitted their updated documents since the beginning of the year, and are no longer suspended, according to the statement, while other companies manufacture their products in local factories and no longer need to export products to Egypt.

ALSO IN THE NEWS TODAY- The first direct flight between Tel Aviv and Sharm El Sheikh took off today under an agreement made between President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in March, according to Arab News and Al Arabiya. The flight was operated by Israel’s El Al airlines and landed in Sharm earlier this morning. EgyptAir has been operating a direct route between Cairo and Tel Aviv since last October.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Aside from updates on Russia and Ukraine gearing up for more fighting on the ground, violence in Jerusalem is getting ink in the global press this afternoon. Israeli police forces entered Al Aqsa in Jerusalem again today, following a similar incident over the weekend in which Israeli forces entered the mosque while Palestinians were praying, the Associated Press reports. Today’s violence left 17 Palestinians injured, according to the newswire. Reuters also has the story.

COVID WATCH- Remember omicron? Its sub-variants are still spreading: The World Health Organization (WHO) is tracking the spread of new omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 in Southern Africa and Europe, reports CNBC. The two strains don’t appear to be more contagious or deadly than previous omicron sub-variants, but this could change as they continue to circulate, WHO’s technical lead on covid-19 Maria Van Kerkhove said in remarks to the press. Another omicron subvariant, XE, is also still spreading in many countries, with initial data from the UK showing that it might be more contagious than others. Meanwhile, the BA.2 subvariant — which was first discovered in South Africa — has now become the predominant strain spreading across the world.

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

• Incolease, Mondi in transactions: A consortium made up of Banque Misr, Misr Ins. Holding (MIH) and its subsidiary Misr Life Ins., and the National Investment Bank (NIB) has sold its 38.7% stake in the International Company for Leasing (Incolease) for a total of EGP 316.9 mn. Separately, packaging group Mondi has acquired two of Lafarge Cement Egypt’s paper production assets, National Bag and Egypt Sack, for an undisclosed sum.
• We’re paying more at the pumps: The government raised fuel prices by c. 3% over the weekend amid a rise in global oil prices on the back of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In its latest quarterly meeting, the fuel pricing committee decided to raise prices at the pumps by another EGP 0.25 per liter for 95, 92 and 80 octane fuel for 2Q 2022.
• Egypt’s current account deficit narrowed to USD 3.8 bn in 2Q 2021-2022, from USD 4.8 bn in the same period last year

*** It’s Inside Industry day — your weekly briefing of all things industrial in Egypt. Inside Industry focuses each Sunday on what it takes to turn Egypt into a manufacturing and export powerhouse, ranging from initial investment and planning to product distribution, through to land allocation to industrial processes, supply chain management, labor, automation and technology, inputs and exports, regulation and policy.

In today’s issue: Last week, we looked at how Egypt’s manufacturing industries are faring when it comes to industrial automation. We found that the industry as a whole is late to the shift by global standards, despite showing strong potential and capacity for automation. Today, we look at the companies that are shifting towards Industry 4.0, diving deeper into the benefits and impacts it has had on their manufacturing processes, their final products, and even their organizational culture.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

The IMF + World Bank Spring Meetings start tomorrow in Washington: Global finance chiefs will descend on Washington tomorrow for the IMF and World Bank annual Spring Meetings. Expect the global economic impact of the war in Ukraine and fears of food security to dominate the agenda. International Cooperation Minister Rania Al Mashat yesterday met with Marina Weiss, WB regional director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti, to finalize preparations ahead of Al Mashat’s participation in the event, according to a statement.

Smart money has the IMF downgrading its global growth forecast when it releases its World Economic Outlook on Tuesday.

PSA- You only have four days left to file your ESG report: EGX-listed companies and all non-bank financial services outfits regardless of listing status need to submit their first quarterly ESG questionnaire by this Wednesday, 20 April. The regulator is making it mandatory for corporates to publicly disclose their performance on key environmental, social and governance metrics each year when they submit their annual financial statements, starting 2023. Reach out to Moustafa Taalab at InkankIR, our parent company, if you need some help.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar will address AmCham’s pre-annual general meeting and iftar this coming Tuesday, 19 April from 6-8pm at the Nile Ritz Carlton. Abdel Ghaffar will give a talk titled speak on investment in the nation’s healthcare and pharma sectors.

Next steps in Tenth of Ramadan dry port tender: The General Authority for Land and Dry Ports will issue the conditions booklet to bidders in its tender to establish and operate the Tenth of Ramadan dry port next month, Al Borsa reported citing Amr Ismail authority head.

Further afield, Egypt will host the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s annual meeting of the board of governors in 2023, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait and execs at the bank agreed during a meeting, according to a cabinet statement. The move comes as Egypt aims to bolster multilateral cooperation between Asia and Africa and become a regional logistics hub for transport and energy.

Entrepreneurs from across Africa have until 6 June to apply to startup competition Africa’s Business Heroes, which is backed by the Jack Ma foundation, according to a press release (pdf). The top 10 businesses in the competition will earn a shared pot of USD 1.5 mn.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Today’s heat will recede slightly tomorrow, with the mercury set to reach 33°C during the day and 18°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.