Good afternoon, friends, and happy almost-THURSDAY. That end-of-year rush is in full gear here at home and it doesn’t look like it will be letting up for the next few days.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

FinMin proposes new top rate for income tax: The Finance Ministry has submitted amendments to the Income Tax Act that would enforce a 27.5% income tax on individuals earning more than EGP 800k a year, as it looks to alleviate the tax burden of low-income earners, a source with knowledge of the matter told Enterprise. The amendments have been sent to the House of Representatives for discussion, our source told us.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

It’s a toss-up between the ongoing FTX saga and the monetary policy guessing game: Picking up where we left off this morning, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal’s front pages are still focused primarily on the charges brought against FTX’s former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried. Others in the international business press — including Bloomberg and CNBC — are more concerned this afternoon with monetary policy decisions expected to come out of the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. The Fed is broadly expected to soften the pace of its interest rate hikes when it wraps up its Federal Open Market Committee meeting later today — a policy lead the ECB is expected to follow when it meets tomorrow.

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

• South Africa’s Vodacom now owns the lion’s share of Vodafone Egypt: Vodafone Group has transferred its 55% stake in its Egyptian unit to its South African subsidiary Vodacom in a EUR 2.37 bn cash and stock transaction.
• Appetito + Jumlaty tie up: Cairo-based grocery delivery startup Appetito and Saudi Arabia’s Jumlaty have merged to form a new company called Nomu in what they say is a bid to become the region’s leading food-tech supply chain platform.
• Agriculture is Egypt’s gold mine, says Cayesh’s Mahmoud Hassan: After reading our five-step recipe for turning Egypt into a global export hub and FDI magnet, Cayesh co-founder Mahmoud Hassan tells us why he thinks agriculture is one of the primary industries where we have a competitive advantage.

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???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

PSA- Two days until the e-invoicing deadline: Companies have until Thursday to register with the Tax Authority’s e-invoicing system. Only 150k companies had signed up to the new system ahead of the previous deadline of 15 December, according to the Tax Authority’s most recent tally at the end of November, which is well below a sought goal of 1 mn companies to register under the system.

REMEMBER- This deadline no longer applies to the self-employed: The Finance Ministry pushed the deadline for self-employed professionals — including doctors, pharmacists and lawyers — to 30 April 2023 after widespread opposition to the system.

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 25°C tomorrow and a nighttime low of 14°C, according to our favorite weather app.