Good morning, folks: Tax is continuing to dominate the agenda here at home, with the government’s proposed income tax changes heading to the House today for discussion, a day after the ‘entertainment tax’ bill and a raft of other tax and duty hikes made it through the first round of voting in the General Assembly. We have all the details below.

ALSO HAPPENING TODAY-

Palestinian PM in Cairo: Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh is landing in Egypt today for a three-day visit following an invite from Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo said yesterday.

It’s day two of Propak MENA, an annual event on all things processing and packaging in the F&B manufacturing industry. The event features over 100 companies from 20 countries gathered at the International Exhibition Center in New Cairo. The exhibition ends tomorrow.

IEF-IGU Ministerial Gas Forum: The International Energy Forum and the International Gas Union will hold its Ministerial Gas Forum.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

Deadline for 1Q financials: Listed companies have until Tuesday, 30 May, to report and publish their 1Q results.

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

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

Erdogan wins Turkish election: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defeated opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdarogluin in yesterday’s run-off vote to win a third term in office. Unofficial tallies showed Erdogan ahead with 52% of the votes with 99% of the ballots opened, a result that was later confirmed by the country’s election authority.

Rapprochement to continue? Egypt and Turkey have in recent months made moves to end more than a decade of hostilities. A series of high-level talks between the two sides have indicated a will to restore diplomatic ties, reappoint ambassadors and lay the groundwork for the first ever meeting between El Sisi and Erdogan. Continuing the recent thawing of tensions, El Sisi sent a message to congratulate Erdogan on the victory yesterday — a sentiment that was shared by state TV last night where the talk shows were unexpectedly positive about his reelection (more on that below).

The story is on all the global front pages this morning:Associated Press | Reuters | Bloomberg | Financial Times | New York Times | Washington Post | Wall Street Journal | CNBC.

Biden, McCarthy confirm debt ceiling agreement: President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have reached a final agreement to raise the federal debt ceiling and avert a government default.

They’re not yet in the clear: The two sides now have to get the deal through a vote in Congress on Wednesday, and there are signs that not everyone is happy about the agreement. The Financial Times said this morning that McCarthy is trying to prevent a revolt among the right-wing of the party, with the salmon-colored paper reporting that some officials are “fuming” about the compromise. (Associated Press | Reuters | Bloomberg | Financial Times | New York Times | Washington Post | Wall Street Journal | CNBC)

Market reax: Asian shares and US equity futures opened higher this morning following the news, with the Nikkei leading gains.

** Reminder: The US and UK markets are closed today. It’s Memorial Day over in the US while folks in the UK are taking the day off for the Spring Bank Holiday.

Brazil to host COP30: The UN has officially chosen Belem — a Brazilian city in the Amazon rainforest — as the host of the COP30 climate change summit in November 2025, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced yesterday, according to Reuters.

Before that: Egypt will hand over the COP presidency to the UAE later this year, which will host COP28 in November. The host for the COP29 summit hasn’t yet been chosen.

Household electricity prices could be getting more expensive: The Madbouly government will likely move forward with the planned increase in household electricity prices in July, Asharq Business reported yesterday, citing three unnamed government officials. The government has “the intentions” to increase electricity prices in correlation with recent exchange rate fluctuations, they said, adding that no final decision has been made yet.

REMEMBER- Residential electricity bills had been set to rise by as much as 21% last year under government plans to restructure pricing and phase out electricity subsidies by 2025 but were instead frozen to protect household budgets amid soaring inflation.

Egyptian tennis player Mayar Sherif is into the second round of the French Open after beating the US’ Madison Brengle in straight sets yesterday. Sherif, currently ranked 54th in the world, defeated the 95th seed 6-3, 6-1 in just over an hour in Paris. She will play Russian world no.24 Anastasia Potapova in the second round on Wednesday.

ICYMI-

Missed this week’s Inside Industry? In our weekly vertical exploring all things industry and manufacturing, we covered a panel discussion at the recent Enterprise Exports & FDI Forum on

industrial clusters.

ENTERPRISE IS LOOKING FOR SMART, TALENTED PEOPLE of all backgrounds to help us build some very cool new things. Enterprise — the essential morning read on all the important news shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region — is looking for writers, reporters and editors to help us build out new publications. Today, we run four daily Egypt and MENA-focused publications, five weekly industry verticals, and a weekend lifestyle edition designed to make our readers feel just a bit smarter.

We have tons more in the pipeline — come help us build new publications. We offer the chance to work in a fast-paced newsroom on a broad range of topics and in a variety of formats. Our goal is simple: To create value for our growing community of >250k daily readers by telling stories that matter.

Journalists looking to explore business, finance and economic stories are welcome. So are recent journalism school graduates.

That said, we're looking for gifted story-tellers from all walks of life and across all professions, as long as they show a keen interest in learning to write about the stories, topics, businesses, and figures moving markets. Egyptian and foreign nationals alike are welcome to apply. So are job-switchers: If you’re an equities analyst tired of the rat race, we’re a great place to come work.

NEVER WORKED IN A NEWSROOM BEFORE? We have the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program. Whether you are a recent graduate, an industry vet, or looking to switch careers, the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program will give you the tools you need to tell the most important stories to our audience of C-suite officials, government ministers, diplomats, financiers, investors and entrepreneurs.

During the program you will learn:

  • The key news stories and trends shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region, across various sectors;
  • Business and finance for non-finance people: Whether it's industry jargon or key concepts or simply how to read a balance sheet;
  • How to construct an Enterprise story: From idea formulation down to the structure, style and tone of writing;
  • How to develop sources that will give you the key insights needed to tell a complete story;
  • How to communicate these stories with the confidence and language of an insider.

Not an internship program — a career: The three-month program will see full-time, paid participants take part in workshops and lectures from veteran business journalists, while also working on and filing stories that will run on any of our publications. Those who have successfully completed the program, will then be given long-term job offers.

Apply directly to jobs@enterprisemea.com and mention “writing development program” in your subject line.

*** It’s Blackboard day: We have our weekly look at the business of education in Egypt, from pre-K through the highest reaches of higher ed.

In today’s issue: We take a look at how Egyptian universities fare in the 2023 international rankings.

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