Good morning, wonderful people, and a very happy Sunday. We have a packed issue to start the week, with encouraging sounds on economic reforms including the privatization program and lots of fresh industrial investment. But first, we’re excited to announce:

The Enterprise Finance Forum is our flagship gathering — the one so many of you have been waiting for. The two-day event takes place this September. Stay tuned for more information on the location.

This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings that allow senior members of our community to openly and frankly discuss critical issues in key sectors of the economy.

Day one is our Banking Forum, where we’ll dive deep into topics of interest to commercial and investment bankers, from an outlook on the 12 months to come in M&A, IPO, and debt capital markets to the national, regional, and global trends that are (re)shaping our industry.

Day two is all about Fintech and Non-Banking Financial Services. We’ll take a deep dive into everything from the magic of client acquisition to the prospects of consolidation and the coming of challenger banks.

WHY ATTEND? Our guests consistently tell us they attend for two reasons: (1) meaningful discussion of the issues that shape the future of their businesses and (2) an unparalleled chance to network with other senior members of the community.

** NEW: MORE NETWORKING TIME- Our agenda includes expanded networking time, including an expanded coffee break and a post-event networking room for you to interact with your peers and speak one-on-one with the team at Enterprise.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Everyone who plays a role in our industry, from commercial and investment bankers to asset managers, fintech founders, NBFS leaders, and professional services providers of all stripes. Attendees at our events are C-suite officers, business owners, and their direct reports; we also make an allocation for folks we think could be tomorrow’s founders and c-suite executives.

TAP OR CLICK HEREif you want to express interest in attending. We’ll be sending out the first batch of invitations just after the 30 June holiday.

Do you want to become a commercial partner? Email mtaalab@enterpriseadvisory.com.

STAY TUNED for more detail about our exciting agenda in the weeks to come.

The BIG STORY here at home this morning is the positive sounds on our economic reform agenda — not least from the IMF: Talks between the IMF and local officials are “encouraging” and the Fund expects to see the government achieve “concrete results that will work to restore confidence” in its economic reform package “over the course of the next several weeks,” IMF Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh has said in an interview with Kelma Akhira’s Lamees Al-Hadidi (watch, runtime: 31: 52). Sayeh said she expected the positive developments to speed up the review of the next stage of our USD 3 bn assistance package with the Fund, without saying when she expected to see progress.

News brewing on state asset sales + FDI: Private equity outfit Actis and Malaysian power company Edra could be vying for one of our USD 2 bn Siemens power plants; the Port Said terminal operator is set to sell a 20% stake on the EGX; and a Saudi-Egyptian investor is on the verge of snapping up a 70% stake in a state-owned glassmaker. We have more on all that — as well as May’s inflation figures — in the newswell, below.

REMEMBER- Originally scheduled for mid-March, the IMF has postponed the first review of Egypt’s loan program due to delays implementing several of its key conditions. Under the USD 3 bn facility, Egypt committed to adopting a fully flexible exchange rate and accelerating its privatization program as a means to ending the prolonged FX crunch. The government aims to raise USD 2 bn via asset sales by the end of this month.

The IMF’s Sayeh is today expected to attend the launch of an IMF paper.

ALSO HAPPENING TODAY-

It’s Budget Week in the House: Our elected representatives will discuss the FY2023-2024 budget, and the economic and social development plan today through to Tuesday. The General Assembly could hold a final vote on Tuesday. The Senate approved the FY 2023-24 development plan last week.

The National Dialogue resumes its sessions today after a two-week long break. Participants will discuss the size of the country’s two legislative chambers and the Freedom of Information Act, according to a statement by the organizers.

There are more sessions coming up this week: On Tuesday, the Dialogue’s committees will discuss public investment priorities and ownership and management of state assets, as well as support for the agriculture industry. Thursday’s sessions will focus on healthcare and the new national health ins. system, and youth entrepreneurship.

Good luck, high school seniors (and parents): Thanaweya Amma exams kick off today and run through mid-July. Best of luck to all those entering exam halls or cheering on from the school gates.

EGP WATCH- The Central Bank of Egypt is unlikely to devalue the currency until September at the earliest as economic pressure eases on the back of expectations for bumper tourism revenues and increasing positivity about the privatization program, a senior analyst at Citigroup told Bloomberg in an interview. The US bank has adopted “a more positive view” on the EGP and the country’s USD bonds in the short-term and now sees policymakers waiting until September — when the IMF is expected to review the USD 3 bn loan program — before making a decision on the currency, Luis Costa, global head of emerging-market sovereign credit at Citigroup, told the news outlet.

What the markets are saying:

  • Easing currency pressure: Three-month non-deliverable forwards climbed 1% to 33.20 on Thursday. The contract had its best month in more than six years in May, gaining 9% during the month.
  • Debt nerves have calmed: The spread between Egypt’s USD bonds and US treasuries has narrowed about 350 points since the middle of May when it reached a record high of 1,486 points. Investors consider yield spreads of 1000+ bps as being an indicator of debt distress.

Moving the markets: Sentiment on Egypt picked up in May on signals that the government is beginning to make progress on its privatization agenda. The government made its first sales during the month — the sale of Pachin and the divestment of a 10% stake in Telecom Egypt — while a spate of unconfirmed press reports hinted that more could be on the way in the coming weeks. Telecom Egypt’s stake in Vodafone Egypt, military-owned firms Wataniya and Safi, and petro firms Egyptian Linear Alkyl Benzene (Elab) and the Egyptian Drilling Company have all been namechecked in recent pieces reporting progress in ongoing negotiations. Meanwhile, the central bank appointed Barclays to join CI Capital on the team of advisors taking the lead on the sale of United Bank, one of the three lenders among the 32 state institutions and companies earmarked for privatization in February.

Going forward: Costa expects the currency to remain “reasonably stable” over the next two months before falling to 36.00 to the USD by the end of December and 37.00 in 2023. The official USD-EGP rate has remained at 30.90 since the middle of March.

CORRECTION-

In Thursday’s edition of EnterpriseAM, we incorrectly wrote that Swvl had received the first license to operate smart transport links between Greater Cairo and the new capital. In fact, the company received the country's first ride-hailing license after new regulation was brought in for the sector. The story has since been updated on our website.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Donald indicted: The US Justice Department on Friday indicted former US president Donald Trump on 37 counts, including mishandling classified documents and making false statements. He is set to appear in a Miami federal court on Tuesday, marking the first time a US former president has faced federal criminal charges. The charges don’t prevent the current Republican frontrunner from running for president again. Trump denounced the indictment as a “travesty of justice” and a “witch hunt” against him and his supporters. (Associated Press| Reuters | Bloomberg| Financial Times | New York Times | Washington Post | Wall Street Journal | CNBC)

THE REALIGNMENT-

A big week for Saudi-China ties: Some 2k Chinese business leaders and investors will descend on Riyadh today for the Arab-China Business Conference as the two countries look to deepen economic ties, Reuters reports, citing a source it says has direct knowledge of the matter. The two-day event will see Arab and Chinese entrepreneurs discuss business opportunities across a range of sectors, including energy, AI, finance and logistics.

FYI- This is the first edition of the event since Chinese leader Xi Jinping made his self-described“epoch-making” visit to the country last year, and comes a few days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the Saudi capital to discuss the two nations’ increasingly strained ties.

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

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