Good afternoon, wonderful people. It’s thus far a calmer-than-expected start to the news week, but we know better than to think this lull will last long.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Five banks get ratings downgrade, outlook upgrade from Moody’s: Moody’s downgraded the long-term local currency deposit ratings for the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, and CIB to B2 from B3, while AlexBank was downgraded to B2 from B1, the ratings agency said. The agency changed its local currency deposit outlook for all five banks to positive from stable.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Survivors continue to be found in Turkey and Syria, reports the foreign press, as the death toll rises above 28k, making it the deadliest natural disaster in more than 90 years in both countries. The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters has noted the high fatality rate of earthquakes due to the difficulty in predicting when and where they will hit, and that most occur in low-income countries with already vulnerable populations.

Coverage is turning to report on the after effects of the earthquake, including the presence of looters, spread of disease among survivors and the detention or arrest of as many as 95 people in Turkey regarding the soundness of buildings that collapsed. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to rebuild more than 100k homes within a year, as more than 1.1 mn people are living in temporary accommodation centers in Turkey, with 80k in hospital. Reuters, the Financial Times and the Washington Post all have updates on the story.

HAPPENING NOW- President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is heading to Dubai to attend the World Government Summit, where Egypt is the guest of honor, according to an Ittihadiya statement. The president is leading a high-level government delegation that will participate in the Davos-like gathering, which will see policymakers from around the world discuss global trends, according to Emirati state news agency WAM. El Sisi is set to meet with senior officials at regional and global financial and economic organizations during the summit, according to the statement.

---

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

• More stake sales in military-owned firms coming? The government is “ready” to offer up stakes in all military-owned firms as part of the state privatization program and partner with private-sector players, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said.
• Abou Ghaly will introduce Geely EVs to the local market. The catch: If you want one you’ll need to pay in USD through Abou Ghaly’s freezone company in Alexandria.
• Food prices hit record high on January devaluation. Inflation jumped to 25.8% y-o-y in January, hitting a fresh five-year high on the back of a record increase in food prices due to the devaluation of the EGP.

*** It’s Inside Industry day — your weekly briefing of all things industrial in Egypt. Inside Industry focuses each Sunday on what it takes to turn Egypt into a manufacturing and export powerhouse, ranging from initial investment and planning to product distribution, through to land allocation to industrial processes, supply chain management, labor, automation and technology, inputs and exports, regulation and policy.

In today’s issue: As the Madbouly Cabinet mulls rolling out pricing frameworks for strategic commodities in a bid to tamp down inflation, manufacturers weigh in on what mandatory pricing would mean for industry.

Subscribe to Enterprise

???? WE HAVE TWO CALENDARS NOW- Our Weekend Edition and EnterprisePM calendar (at the bottom of this email) include a full rundown interesting events coming up in Cairo, from art exhibitions to concerts and marathons.

Find our regular business calendar, which includes a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers, in EnterpriseAM and on the web.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- It’s going to be chilly this week, with daytime highs of 17°C through Friday, according to our favorite weather app, before the mercury breaks back past 20°C a week from today. Look for overnight lows in the 7-10°C range in the capital city all week.