Good morning, folks: We have a fairly brisk issue for you this morning as we race towards the end of another week.

HAPPENING TODAY-

It’s day three of the AfDB annual meetings: The African Development Bank (AfDB) annualmeetings in Sharm El Sheikh continue today. We have more on yesterday’s events in this morning’s news well, below. The meetings run through to Friday.

The Suez Canal Economic Zone continues its roadshow in China and Hong Kong:A delegation led by CEO Walid Gamal El Din has been meeting with business leaders and investors in the country since Monday, and yesterday announced that Energy China would sign a framework agreement for a proposed green hydrogen plant in the coming two months. More on this below.

EFG Hermes sans Hermes? EFG Hermes Holding will hold an AGM today where shareholders will vote on several proposals, including changing the company’s name and increasing its capital. If approved, the bank will change its name from EFG Hermes Holding to EFG Holding, and raise its issued and paid-in capital by 25% to EGP 7.3 bn.

Avior — HC Egypt Conference: HC Brokerage and Avior Capital Markets’ virtual conference continues today. The four-day event brings representatives from 29 EGX-listed companies together with financial institutions from the US, Canada, Europe, South Africa, the UAE, and Egypt to discuss investment opportunities.

Lawmakers to discuss tougher penalties for harassment: A House joint committee featuring the Legislative Committee and Human Rights Office will discuss draft amendments to the penal code that would introduce harsher penalties for harassment and assault, especially in the workplace and public transportation, Youm7reports. The cabinet approved the amendments earlier this month.

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

Solving the investment / devaluation conundrum: Egypt is facing an economic catch-22, where foreign investors wait for the EGP to weaken further before biting on the state’s asset sale program, but policymakers want to secure foreign investment before any further currency depreciation. There could be ways around it, though, according to Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, who tells Bloomberg that the state should still be able to achieve some asset sales without first having to embark on a further devaluation.

#1- Negotiating exchange rates on a case-by-case basis: The government could negotiate with Gulf investors to sell its locally-priced assets at different foreign-exchange rates, avoiding the need to float the currency before it has received vital FX inflows, she says. The caveat: “Wider investment would still need a further devaluation in the EGP.”

#2- Making them an offer they can’t refuse: It could also ease up on the valuations, effectively providing compensation to investors ahead of a devaluation, she says.

Remember: The government is aiming to raise USD 2 bn by privatizing state-owned assets by the end of June. This would give it more room to meet the conditions of the IMF review — partly by transitioning to a fully-flexible exchange rate — and unlock the second tranche of its USD 3 bn loan. The government kicked off the privatization process with the sale of a 9.5% stake in Telecom Egypt earlier this month, though with only 9% of the shares bought by foreigners the sale did little to bring in FX.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

The US debt ceiling drama continues to drive the news agenda in the Western press this morning after a fresh round of talks between Democratic and Republican lawmakers ended with little progress made. Making things harder were a group of House Republicans who called into question the 1 June deadline, which is when the Treasury Department says the country could default on its debt if no agreement is reached. (Reuters | Bloomberg | Financial Times| New York Times | Wall Street Journal | CNBC)

Markets are starting to get unnerved: The continued impasse is finally starting to unnerve the markets, with US equities and short-term bonds falling yesterday. Bloomberg and the Financial Times have more.

The sell-off is continuing this morning in Asia, where equity markets across most of the region are in the red. European markets are expected to follow them later this morning while US equity futures are currently trading higher.

The truce in Sudan is (sort of) holding: A “relative calm” has fallen over the Sudanese capital over the past 24 hours, with only sporadic airstrikes and artillery fire being reported since the Saudi- and US-mediated ceasefire came into effect last night, according to Reuters. The two sides agreed during talks in Jeddah last week to begin observing a week-long truce to allow in humanitarian aid from Monday night. Preparations for sending aid into the country have now begun, Riyadh and Washington said in a joint statement yesterday.

If the truce doesn’t hold? The US could place sanctions on the Sudanese army and the RSF if they fail to see out the seven-day ceasefire, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday.

Microsoft Windows is going full-AI: Microsoft has begun releasing a suite of AI upgrades to its Windows 11 operating system and Bing search engine as the company continues in its bid to become the market leader in AI-led computing. Speaking on the opening day of the company’s developer conference yesterday, CEO Satya Nadella said its ChatGPT generative AI model will now pull in search results from Bing for paid customers, and from June the company will start integrating its AI-driven Co-Pilot software (watch, runtime: 9:10) into Windows 11 and Microsoft 365. Read up on everything here.

CORRECTION- In an article published in yesterday’s EnterpriseAM, we incorrectly wrote that the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund invested EGP 3 mn in Dawi Clinics in 2018, rather than USD 3 mn. The story has since been amended on our website.

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We’re running a four-month training program for fresh grads and career switchers and will hire every successful grad of the program.

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FACT CHECK- National Automotive Company (NATCO) subsidiaries Star National Automotive and Alexandria National Automotive denied knowledge of plans to distribute new models of Mercedes-Benz EVs in Egypt, the company told Enterprise yesterday. We picked up the news earlier this week from Al Borsa, which reported statements made by CEO Yasser Saleh during an interview.

*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: Enterprise’s industry vertical focuses each Wednesday on infrastructure, covering everything from energy, water, transportation, and urban development, as well as social infrastructure such as health and education.

In today’s issue: We take a look at the government’s spending plans for the Hayah Karima (Decent Life) initiative for the coming fiscal year.

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