Good morning, friends, and welcome to what we think is going to be a particularly busy workweek as 2022 races to the finish line. We can only hope to play out the final days of the year with as much heart as Morocco played the final minutes of last night’s match against Portugal.

HAPPENING TODAY-

The clock starts ticking for unlicensed shops: The Public Shops Law that will introduce new licensing requirements for shops across the nation goes into effect today, Local Development Minister Hesham Amna said yesterday. Under the bill, passed by the House in 2019, unlicensed shops will have one-year to acquire commercial licenses and become part of the formal economy. Shop owners will be required to apply to new licensing centers, which will process applications and grant licenses within 90 days, Amna said. The legislation also introduces a new inspection regime and specifies ins. requirements.

SOUND SMART- The law will impact as many as 80-90% of shops in Egypt, which remain outside of the formal economy.

LEGISLATION WATCH for the week:

• The Senate will discuss today and tomorrow a bill setting up the Digital Egypt Fund.
• Business will have its say during a meeting of the Senate Financial and Economic Affairs Committee to discuss a report by the pro-government Mostaqbal Watan party that aims to overhaul how we approach FDI.
• Housing Minister Assem Al Gazzar and Local Development Minister Hesham Amna are set to attend a meeting by the House Housing Committee to discuss legislation aiming to speed up the legalization of wildcat building.

THIS WEEK-

Will we finally close an IMF facility this week? The IMF’s executive board will discuss Egypt’s request for a new extended fund facility on Friday, 16 December. Past precedent suggests the board will likely make a decision on the USD 3 bn, 46-month facility during the meeting. Egypt and the Fund reached a staff-level agreement for a new loan program at the end of October.

What’s going to happen to the EGP? There’s plenty of chatter about the direction of the EGP ahead of the meeting, Reuters and Bloomberg reported over the weekend. Reuters focuses on the widening gap between the official exchange rate and the price on the (anemic) parallel market — where the EGP was changing hands at 32-33 to the USD — while Bloomberg notes that traders see the EGP weakening by as much as 20% to 30.90 over the next 12 months.

Analysts speaking to both news services were on the fence as to whether or not the EGP will weaken further ahead of the IMF meeting. The EGP closed at 24.66 on Thursday at banks, down 24.7% from the October devaluation and 56.3% from the start of the year.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

Egypt still plans to hold a fresh international tender for oil and gas exploration before the end of the year, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla told Bloomberg Asharq. The tender will cover concessions in the Mediterranean and the Western Desert, El Molla said. He suggested in November that the tender would also cover concessions in the Eastern Desert, where the ministry had also been planning to launch a second international tender for minerals other than gold before the end of the year.

WORLD CUP-

Morocco is making the Arab world proud in Doha: Morocco made history yesterday after defeating Portugal 1-0 to become the first ever Arab and African team to reach the World Cup semi-finals. A stunning header by Youssef En Nesyri before half time put the Atlas Lions ahead — and a crazily solid defensive performance in the second half kept the Portuguese at bay, sending Morocco through to the final four.

The end of the road for CR7? A substitute for the second game in a row, ineffectual when subbed on in the second half, and a swift, tearful exit after the final whistle — the game felt like Cristiano Ronaldo’s international swan song. At 37 years of age, this was always likely to be his final shot at hoisting aloft a World Cup — the only prize missing from his trophy cabinet — but his sub-par performances, tensions with the manager, and demotion to the bench show that the aging superstar’s powers are well and truly on the wane. Ronaldo at Euro 2024? We doubt it.

Morocco is now set for a clash with defending champion France, which beat England 2-1 after Harry Kane missed a late penalty.

Morocco wasn’t the only team to stage an upset in the quarter-finals: Croatia came from behind to dump tournament favorites Brazil out of the competition on penalties on Friday night. After equalizing with just a few minutes of extra time left on the clock, the Croatians coolly slotted home all four of their penalties while Brazilian forward Rodrygo and center-back Marquinhos failed to hit the target.

The Netherlands came close to repeating Croatia’s great escape: A dramatic comeback by the Netherlands against Argentina to a 2-2 draw was to no avail after La Albiceleste snatched a win in a 4-3 penalty shootout against the Oranje to keep Lionel Messi’s World Cup dream alive.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR- This is how the semi-finals line up (all times CLT):

• Argentina v Croatia meet on Tuesday, 13 December at 21:00
• Morocco v France play on Wednesday, 14 December at 21:00.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Egyptian Private Equity Association is hosting a healthcare summit tomorrow, 12 December at the Semiramis Intercontinental Cairo. 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.

Next week: 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.

*** It’s What’s Next day: We have our weekly deep-dive into what makes and shapes pre-listed companies and startups in Egypt, the UAE and KSA, touching on investment trends, future sector insights and growth journeys.

In today’s issue: Last week, we took a deep-dive into an alternative investment vehicle that lies somewhere in between VC and private equity funding — search funds. The exciting part: This year is the first time that Egypt was included in the map of global search funds by IESE Business School international search funds report (pdf). This week, we look at search fund activity in Egypt and the challenges that current and emerging players are facing.