Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We’re just about at the end of the work week, after making it through what felt like a very, very long January.

** TAKE OUR JANUARY ENTERPRISE READER SURVEY and get a chance to break bread with us: Give us your thoughts on how 2022 panned out for your business and industry, and what you’re expecting in the year ahead in our Enterprise Reader Survey.

We’re asking you to share your expectations on the EGP / USD rate in 2023, how you’re managing expenses amid the rising cost of living, where you see your industry as a whole heading, and whether you expect to make fresh investments — among a few other questions we ask our community on a regular basis. As is our custom, we’ll be sharing the results with all of you in a few weeks’ time to help you shape your view of the year.

You can take the Reader Survey here — it won’t take more than a few minutes to complete.

Want to have a meal with us? Leave your name, email, mobile number, and where you work in the box for “Is there anything else you want to tell us.” We’ll be inviting eight participating readers to a meal at one of our favorite restaurants.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

We’re going to have a privatization plan — with at least 20 companies in the chute — next week: The Madbouly Cabinet will unveil its plan to sell stakes in at least 20 state-owned firms following its meeting next week, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said at a press conference today (watch, runtime 15:05). Madbouly did not specify a timeline for the plan, which will include some combination of EGX listings and stake sales to strategic investors. The prime minister also did not provide the names of any companies that will be included in the plan.

THE BIG BUSINESS STORY

It’s decision day at the Fed: The US Federal Reserve is expected to raise rates by 25 bps to a target range of 4.5-4.75% in its ongoing fight against inflation at the end of its two-day policy meeting later today, Bloomberg reports. The decision would mark a second shift down towards a more moderate pace of monetary tightening in response to signs of cooling inflation and slowing growth. The Fed in December stepped down the pace of its interest rate hikes to 50 bps following four consecutive 75-bps hikes.

The fight against inflation is far from over: The Fed is expected to signal that more interest rate hikes are coming in its statement accompanying the rate announcement as well as in Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference later today. “With financial markets anticipating that the Fed will stop raising rates soon and possibly even cut them later this year, analysts say Powell will need to push back against such optimism,” says the Associated Press.

How much more tightening is left to go? Policymakers believe that rates need to reach north of 5% and stay there — for an unspecified period — to reign in price growth, according to Bloomberg.

The Fed meeting is everywhere in the international business press: AP | Financial Times | Bloomberg | CNBC

The ECB will follow tomorrow: The European Central Bank is expected to hike up rates by 50 bps in its meeting on Thursday to tackle unyielding core inflation, which remained at an all-time high of 5.2% in January, the Financial Times reports. While eurozone inflation has declined to 8.5% in January from 9.2% in December on the back of falling energy prices, it’s not enough to dissuade the ECB from hiking rates to curb core inflation, which is a superior measure of price growth as it excludes food and energy prices, the FT adds.

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

• The IMF has cut its economic growth forecast for Egypt, saying it sees GDP growing 4.0% this year, a 0.4 percentage point trim from its previous forecast in October, according to its updated World Economic Outlook released yesterday.
• Two Gulf lenders are positive on Egypt: Senior staff at Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and National Bank of Kuwait both expressed optimism about Egypt and their businesses here in interviews yesterday.
• IDH pulls the plug on acquisition of a major stake in IDC: Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (IDH) has walked away from its bid to acquire a major stake in one of Pakistan’s largest diagnostics providers due to regulatory issues and challenging economic conditions.

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???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

It’s the start of a new month: Here are the key news triggers over the coming weeks.

• Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt will hold its policy meeting this Thursday. Most of the analysts we talked to last week expect the central bank to raise interest rates by 100-200 bps.
• PMI: S&P Global will publish January’s PMI on Sunday, 5 February.
• Foreign reserves: The central bank will release January’s foreign reserves figures next week.
• Inflation: The CBE and Capmas will publish inflation data for January the week after next.

The House of Representatives will reconvene on Sunday, 12 February, having adjourned yesterday after three days of debate.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

????️TOMORROW’S WEATHER- We’re looking at a cloudy day tomorrow. The mercury is set to reach 17°C during the day tomorrow in the capital city before dipping to 10°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.