THIS MORNING: Expect Qatari investment come the new year
Good morning, folks, and HAPPY THURSDAY. It’s been an exhilarating and exhausting week and we’re looking forward to getting some much-needed rest here at Enterprise HQ.
But first, we bring you yet another packed issue this morning. There’s plenty of encouraging news on foreign investment in our industrial and manufacturing sectors this morning, from fresh green hydrogen agreements, to cabinet moves to widen investment incentives, to positive sounds from automakers on plans to up local manufacturing. That ties in nicely with the latest installment of our CEO poll on our five-step recipe to boost FDI and exports, with Mansour Automotive’s Ankush Arora.
We also bring you more from Tuesday’s inaugural Enterprise Climate X Forum: Our panel on green hydrogen and the NWFE program saw Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, Khalid Hamza, director and head of Egypt at the EBRD, and Khaled Nageib, CEO of Hydrogen Egypt, demystify two of the biggest opportunities for the private sector to have come out of COP27.
We’re expecting the IMF’s board meeting on our loan to go smoothly: Egypt expects the IMF to approve our USD 3 bn bailout package without any hiccups when its executive board meets next Friday, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said at a conference yesterday, according to Reuters. It’s “very accurate” to say that meeting is a formality, Kouchouk said.
REMEMBER- Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said earlier this week that we could receive the first USD 750 mn tranche of the rescue package before the end of this year. The 46-month loan agreement, which was announced in tandem with October’s EGP devaluation, is part of a series of measures to help shore up our economy amid the fallout of the war in Ukraine.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR-
Dentists join the e-invoicing opposition club: The Egyptian Dental Syndicate is “rejecting” the requirement that self-employed professionals including doctors, engineers, lawyers, and artists register on the Tax Authority’s e-invoicing system by 15 December, according to a statement. The syndicate is the latest to join the chorus of voices opposing the requirement, including doctors, pharmacists and lawyers.
Enterprise says: Businesses pay taxes. You should pay yours. The majority of licensed professionals are good and honest people, but their versions of industry associations have for more than five years now aggressively pushed back on anything coming out of the Tax Authority or the Central Bank of Egypt that would make their finances more transparent to The Man. Incorporated businesses charge and remit VAT, file e-invoices, pay income taxes, etc, etc — solo practitioners and partnerships between them should be no different.
Oil Minister Tarek El Molla was appointed president of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum’s (EMGF) 2023 ministerial meeting, according to a joint declaration (pdf) out of the forum’s 2022 meeting yesterday, which was chaired by Cypriot Energy Minister Natasa Pilides.
Good news for our gas export ambitions: Cyprus’ Aphrodite field will see a new round of drilling in early 2023, Reuters reports, citing statements by Pilides in Cairo yesterday. Pilides said her country is trying to accelerate development so the first shipment could reach Egypt by 2027.
REMEMBER- Egypt and Cyprus are planning to lay a pipeline connecting the Aphrodite field to Egypt’s LNG facilities, where natural gas is liquified and exported to Europe. Egypt is the only country with LNG facilities in the Eastern Mediterranean, putting us in pole position to fill Europe’s energy supply gap as it rapidly transitions away from Russian fossil fuels.
WATCH THIS SPACE– SFE boss sees fresh Qatari investments coming in at the beginning of 2023: The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is expected to make more investments in the local market early next year, Al Borsa quotes Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) CEO Ayman Soliman as saying. Sovereign wealth funds from other unspecified countries are also set to invest in Egypt at the beginning of 2023, Soliman said, without giving further details on the expected investments. The SFE is planning a roadshow in late December or the beginning of January to market assets in its pre-IPO fund to regional wealth funds.
QIA has a number of investments in the pipeline: QIA earlier this year deposited USD 1 bn with the Central Bank of Egypt as a stop-gap while it completes due diligence and finalizes agreements to purchase as much as USD 2.5 bn worth of state-held stakes in unlisted companies. The fund already has its eye on a number of potential investments, including the port of Safaga, the Damietta port and Egypt’s container terminals.
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY-
We’ll find out today how the latest EGP devaluation impacted consumer prices in November when the central bank and CAPMAS publish the latest inflation data. A poll of analysts conducted by Reuters sees annual urban inflation rising to 18.75% from 16.2% in October, which would be the highest level in almost five years. The survey also sees core inflation reaching 21.6% in November — its highest since November 2017 — up from 19.0% the month prior. The EGP has tumbled 24.8% since 27 October, when the central bank said it was moving to a flexible exchange rate, opening the door to a new wave of imported inflation.
AND TOMORROW-
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will be in Riyadh to attend the China-Arab summit that will coincide with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the kingdom. Some 12-14 Arab leaders are expected to attend the summit on Friday.
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THE BIG STORY ABROAD this morning is the political drama unfolding in Peru: Dina Boluarte was sworn in as Peru’s new president hours after former leader Pedro Castillo was ousted by lawmakers. Castillo has been arrested on charges of “rebellion” after he sought to dissolve the congress to avoid an impeachment vote. Bloomberg, Reuters, AP, and the FT have more.
The international press is also still buzzing with the bizarre – and somewhat scary — story of a foiled coup attempt by a rightwing fringe group in Germany. German police arrested 25 people accused of planning an armed coup to overthrow the government and install 71-year-old German aristocrat Heinrich XIII as the country’s leader. The Financial Times, the Guardian, and the BBC are among those with coverage.
CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-
The cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) will kick off the first session of its new intellectual forum today, according to a statement. The weekly forum will see experts including government officials, academics, representatives of multilateral institutions, MPs, and national dialogue members meet to discuss key policy questions and make recommendations on them to the prime minister.
The Egyptian Private Equity Association is hosting a healthcare summit next Monday, 12 December. The event will be held under the auspices of the finance and planning ministries. You can check out the agenda here (pdf) and register for the summit here.
Later this month: The Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday, 22 December to review interest rates.
Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.