Hump day is holding on to its title as news dump day, ladies and gentlemen, bringing us a rather busy Tuesday afternoon.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

India has approved a 61.5k-ton wheat shipment to Egypt following a request from the Egyptian government, India’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement that details relaxed measures to help soften the blow of its wheat export ban. The shipment is currently being loaded at India’s Kandla Port, the ministry said. It is unclear whether this is the same 55k-ton shipment that we had approved from India earlier, and which had already passed the inspection of Egyptian officials. The country also cleared all shipments of wheat that were with customs as of 13 May or earlier, Bloomberg writes.

^^We’ll have more on this story and others in tomorrow’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD

• Human bot Elon Musk launched into a Twitter tirade today, insisting Twitter must prove that bots make up less than 5% of total accounts for his USD 44 bn acquisition bid to proceed. It’s worth noting that the bid offer (his latest self-inflicted L) came as the value of equities have been slipping since the Fed is halting its stimulus. Bloomberg has the story here.
• Ukraine has ceded control of Mariupol, a strategic port city that has been under siege for weeks, to Russian forces today. (Reuters | WSJ | NYT)

HAPPENING NOW-

Planning Minister Hala El Said is discussing the government’s sustainable development strategy for FY 2022-2023 (pdf) at the House Planning and Budget Committee, according to a statement. We have a breakdown of what the strategy entails for the education sector in the upcoming fiscal year in our latest edition of Blackboard.

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

• Gov’t lowers economic growth target for next fiscal year: The Madbouly government has cut its 2022-2023 growth forecast to 4.5% from 5.5%.
• Qalaa Holdings’ Taqa Arabia has acquired the LNG arm of local energy firm Rosetta Energy.
• Israel hopes to sign agreements to up its gas supply to Europe “in the coming months,” and Egypt could be key to the plans, since the quickest route to get Israeli gas to Europe is by shipping it to our liquefaction facilities for re-export.

FOR TOMORROW- Need to get your head around the new e-receipt system? Lynx Strategic Business Advisors are following up their recent webinar on e-invoicing with a session introducing the Finance Ministry’s new e-receipt system, which is set to officially roll out on 1 July. The webinar will feature FinMin tax development advisor Yasser Taymour, as well as reps from Talabat, Jumia, Yoco, and the World Bank. It takes place tomorrow (Wednesday, 18 May) from 12:00-1:30pm CLT. Register here.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

It’s interest rate week here at home: The Central Bank of Egypt will likely raise interest rates when it meets this Thursday, according to a near consensus of analysts and economists we surveyed last week. Six of the seven respondents see the Monetary Policy Committee going ahead with a rate hike to combat inflation and stem portfolio outflows, with five forecasting rates to rise by up to 200 bps.

The Islamic Development Bank will hold its 2022 annual meetings in Sharm El Sheikh from 1-4 June under the slogan “post-pandemic recovery: resilience and sustainability,” according to a statement from the Planning Ministry. Several Egyptian ministries and representatives from the bank’s 57 member countries and other financial institutions are set to attend the meetings.

Venture capital 101: The Egyptian Private Equity Association (EPEA) is hosting a paid crash course in all things venture capital at the Zamalek Marriott on 21-23 May. Led by Avanz Capital Egypt MD Hany Assaad, the three-day course will cover everything you need to know about Planet VC, from fund structures and portfolio-building to due diligence and valuations.

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 36°C tomorrow in the capital city before the mercury falls to 20°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.