Are multilateral lenders doing all they can to support EMs? Not according to the acting governor of Pakistan’s central bank. As attention pivots to the Ukrainian crisis and rising inflation in developed countries, emerging markets risk "falling through the cracks of the global safety net," Murtaza Syed says in a Financial Times op-ed.

“Old-fashioned” and “standoffish”: At a time when the world is facing a global recession spurred by the Fed's recent rate hike, Syed says multilateral and bilateral donor agencies have been reticent to step in — and where they have, they’ve insisted on tying help to rigid conditions, leaving many debt-laden developing countries to fend for themselves. Meanwhile, Western multilaterals appear uneasy about engaging with a new world in which China has emerged as a big investor and creditor, he adds.

This may ring some bells: Egypt is currently in talks to secure an assistance package from the IMF — but there will be strings attached, with the lender’s executive board last week calling on the government to take “decisive” steps on fiscal and structural reforms to reduce its exposure to external shocks. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in June made an indirect appeal to the lender to ease up on some of its conditions until we’re through the worst of the economic crisis.

ALSO FROM PLANET FINANCE-

• Airbus has canceled its entire outstanding order from Qatar Airways for A350 jets in the latest twist in an ongoing saga between the two firms. (Reuters)
• Turkish inflation accelerated to almost 80% in July, and analysts don’t expect it to reverse any time soon as the central bank refuses to tighten policy. (Bloomberg)
• Just Eat has slashed the valuation of its US subsidiary Grubhub by almost half to EUR 3 bn, as it looks to sell the company just a year after acquiring it. (Financial Times)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 1.0% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 440.15 mn (45.7% below the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is down 20.2% YTD.

In the green: Fawry (+4.1%), e-Finance (+4.0%) and Rameda (+3.3%).

In the red: Eastern Company (-2.6%), EKH-EGP (-1.9%) and AMOC (-0.5%).

Almost all Asian markets are in the green this morning as investors react to yesterday’s rally on Wall Street, fuelled by increasing optimism that the Federal Reserve will be able to engineer a soft landing for the economy that avoids higher interest rates causing a recession. The rally looks set to continue in western markets today with US and European stock futures pointing to early gains when markets open later this morning.