Good afternoon, wonderful people, and welcome to that time of the week when we can almost smell the weekend.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY

#1- Denmark’s Cimbria is building a wheat silo complex in Port Said with a capacity of 100k tons in a bid to “secure food storage” in Egypt, according to a company statement. The complex will include eight silos, each holding a capacity of 12.5k tons, and will be used to store imported wheat. Construction of the complex began in February and is expected to be complete within two years.

#2- German fiberboard producer Homann Holzwerkstoffe is acquiring a 27% stake in Egypt Kuwait Holding (EKH)’s subsidiary Global MDF Industries, according to an EKH statement (pdf), without disclosing the transaction amount. The agreement, which takes place over two phases, comes as part of a joint venture between the two companies. The first tranche involved the acquisition of a 16.2% stake today, while the remaining 10.8% will be finalized at the start of production, the statement said.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

The EU is working on a USD 205 bn plan to cut off Russian oil in five years time, Bloomberg wrote citing knowledgeable sources. The European Commission will propose upping its clean energy targets, from the current 40% to 45% by 2030 as well as increasing energy-efficiency targets, which would call on member nations to cut their energy consumption by a 13%.

Hello, Europe: In a bid to boost LNG imports from non-Russian suppliers, the EU will be looking to pour more into infrastructure investments to allow for the “sustainable imports of LNG and pipeline gas from the new suppliers and ensure that development is hydrogen-ready.” Egypt has been looking to capitalize on Europe’ emerging thirst for LNG, with Eni signing agreements last month to supply more of our LNG to Italy and Europe. Egypt also began shipping out LNG to Latin America last month.

Hungary is still pushing back on plans to end reliance on Russian fossil fuels, adding that “if Brussels is serious about introducing this embargo, then that’s only possible if shipments via pipelines are excluded,” Bloomberg wrote. The two sides have been working on reaching an agreement with no luck.

This push for the plan came as Ukraine announced that it will stop gas flows through its Sokhranivka gas transit point seeing that it had lost control of the infrastructure in the occupied territories. This move will significantly disturb European gas imports, with the transit point being responsible for the delivery of almost a third of the fuel moved from Russia to Europe through Ukraine. Russian gas transit shipments are set to drop 18% today, on the back of the disturbance. European gas prices jumped 6.8% on the news. The story dominated the foreign press: Bloomberg | Reuters | The New York Times | AP.

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

• Manufacturers get a break with exemption from L/C requirements for some imports: Production inputs and raw materials will be exempt from a CBE rules handed down in February that has required the vast majority of importers to use letters of credit (L/Cs) to cover imports, the presidency announced yesterday.
• Rates to rise 200 bps next week? The Central Bank of Egypt will likely raise interest rates for the second time since March when it meets next week as inflation continues to accelerate and rising global rates put pressure on portfolio flows. Six of the seven analysts we surveyed this week expect rates to increase next Thursday, 19 May, with five of them seeing the central bank hiking rates by up to 200 bps.
• EBRD downgrades regional growth outlook: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development downgraded its growth forecast for the nations in which the lender operates in its latest Regional Economic Prospects report, forecasting overall growth across its seven regions slowing to 1.1% in 2022 from 6.7% last year — a downwards revision of 0.6 percentage points since its last forecast in March.

FOR TOMORROW-

The UK and Egypt are bringing 40 countries together in Copenhagen tomorrow to discuss climate ahead of COP27, according to a press release from the British government. In the first jointly led event by the UK and Egypt as COP26 and COP27 Presidencies, the May Ministerial Meeting will include sessions on how to adapt to the impacts of climate change, address loss and damage due to climate change, mobilize climate finance, and reduce emissions to stay under the 1.5°C benchmark. The two-day meeting will kick off tomorrow and wrap up on Friday and mark the first meet up since COP26 in Glasgow.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

A huge US “GreenTech business mission” is inbound next week. More than 40 US companies will be in Egypt during 15-17 May to kick the tires on green investment and potential business partnerships in sectors ranging from energy to healthcare, agriculture, aviation, construction and water resource management. The high-level delegation will meet with members of the business community and senior government officials, including Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and other members of cabinet. The mission is being organized by AmCham and the US Chamber of Commerce.

The PSA world squash championships get underway in Cairo this Friday, 13 May. The men’s and women’s finals will be played on 22 May. There is USD 550k at stake for each of the men’s and women’s championships, making this the biggest purse on record for a squash tourney. The CIB-sponsored championships will play out at SODIC’s Club S Allegria and at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

The Central Bank of Egypt will meet to review interest rates on Thursday, 19 May.

The last of this season’s earnings releases will drop by 31 May after the Financial Regulatory Authority granted listed companies a two-week deadline extension.

Early-stage foodtech startups have until June to apply to the second edition of the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and Tamkeen’s global FoodTech Challenge, with an earnings pool of USD 2 mn, according to a statement (pdf). Partners supporting the competition include Aspire, ADQ, Silal and Emirates Foundation.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect a daytime high of 32°C tomorrow in the capital city and a nighttime low of 18°C, according to our favorite weather app.

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