Good morning, wonderful people, and a very happy THURSDAY to you all.We were expecting the news cycle to remain quiet through to the weekend — and as is so often the case, it has defied our expectations. There’s plenty going on this morning, from fresh macro data and research through M&A with a side of investment news.

THE BIG STORY here at home this morning: The country’s non-oil private sector contracted at a slower pace in June, according to S&P Global’s latest PMI data. We have all the details in this morning’s Economy section, below.

FDI is also a theme this morning,as we bring you news that the government has approved a land-allocation agreement for Scatec’s 5-GW wind farm in Sohag. Both cabinet and the House of Representatives, meanwhile, are pushing ahead with reforms they say are meant to improve the business climate and help attract foreign investors.

WATCH THIS SPACE- Will 5G licenses be the government’s next source of FX? The Communications Ministry is looking into offering licenses that would enable telcos to operate 5G networks, a source at the ministry told Enterprise, adding that the license fees would be paid in hard currency. All mobile network operators already have the bandwidths needed to run 5G networks, the source said. News of the planned licenses was first reported by Al Borsa.

Lots of potential capex spending: Operators are still facing difficulties with 4G network capacities and need to invest in the infrastructure that will enable them to support 5G speeds, our source said.

DOWNLOAD THIS- Are you tired of Twitter’s really horrible “For you” recommendations? Throttled by Elon’s limit on how many tweets you can read a day? Mark Zukerberg would be very happy if you were to download Threads this morning, a Twitter clone Meta’s Instagram has had in the works for some time now.

The UI is simple, clean and Twitter-like — and it’s dead-easy to set up and follow all the people you already follow on Instagram. It’s iOS only for the moment, with Android to follow, and you can download it here in the App Store.

So far, Threads isn’t a ghost town: Lots of folks from our IG are already there and posting up a storm. As much as we hate to give Zuck more of our digital attention, it’s probably worth a try.

HAPPENING NEXT WEEK-

FinMin to start to payout of export subsidies next week: The Finance Ministry will pay out the latest batch of export subsidies on 12-13 July, it said in a statement yesterday. The ministry was due to make the payments for companies that submitted applications in May on 5-6 July, but delayed them by a week after the start of the new fiscal year coincided with the Eid break.

Reminder: Subsides under this sixth phase of the program are being paid out in two tranches; a first tranche for companies that submitted applications in May, and a second for those that applied in June. The second round of payments will be made in August.

ICYMI- The government says it will quadruple export subsidies this fiscal year, with EGP 28 bn earmarked to the program in the hot-off-the-presses 2023-2024 budget. The larger allocation is aimed at helping the government reach its target to increase exports to USD 100 bn a year by the middle of the decade.

There’s once again no single BIG STORY ABROAD breaking through in the foreign press. The business press is widely covering US interest rate expectations: Federal Reserve officials signaled that further monetary tightening is on the table after leaving rates untouched for the first time in 15 months during their June meeting, according to the meeting minutes (pdf) released yesterday. “Almost all participants noted that in their economic projections that they judged that additional increases in the target federal funds rate during 2023 would be appropriate,” the minutes read. The Financial Times, Reuters, and the WSJ have more.

MEANWHILE- The UAE is getting an investment ministry: The UAE is planning to set up a new federal ministry for investment to stimulate the country’s investment environment and strengthen its position as a major player in the global economy, UAE prime minister and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s announced on social media on Monday.

ADQ boss Mohammed Al Suwaidi will lead the ministry. He’s a smart guy who speaks the language of the private sector and has proven at the UAE sovereign fund that he knows how to lead — a smart choice.

MARKET WATCH-

Oil prices just won’t budge, much to the chagrin of OPEC+: Oil cartel OPEC+ has been on a drive to lift declining oil prices via output cuts since November, with Russia and Saudi Arabia on Monday introducing additional supply cuts just three months after a surprise move by the bloc to cut oil production. While the April announcement brieflydrove crude prices up, bearish sentiment has since erased these gains, with Brent futures coming in at just under USD 76 per barrel on Tuesday.

What’s weighing on prices? The global oil market is facing pressures from multiple angles, including tightening financial conditions and concerns over global growth, analysts tell Reuters. China’s economic recovery following covid has been weaker than anticipated, sparking concerns about lackluster demand from the world’s second-largest oil consumer, while leading central banks’ intentions to continue raising interest rates could weigh on oil demand among consumers and manufacturers. Meanwhile, US oil output has been growing faster than expected, and the Energy Information Administration estimates that crude production will rise by 720k barrels per day (bpd) to 12.61 mn bpd this year.

But KSA is undeterred: OPEC+ will do “whatever necessary” to support the market, Reutersquotes Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as saying at the OPEC International Seminar in Vienna yesterday, citing a source who attended the meeting.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Enterprise Finance Forum is taking place on 18-19 September at the St. Regis Hotel in Cairo. 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.

** 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.

TAP OR CLICK HERE if you want to express interest in attending. We’ll be sending out the first batch of invitations soon.

Do you want to become a commercial partner? Ping a note to Moustafa Taalab, our head of commercial or fill out this form and we’ll be in touch.

DID YOU MISS THE ENTERPRISE EXPORTS AND FDI FORUM? Tune in to the Enterprise Podcast and listen for yourself: The Enterprise Podcast is back with another installment of our forum series, where we bring you audio recordings of what was said on stage at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum,which took place in May.

WANT TO LISTEN? Head to: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast | Anghami. We’re releasing a new episode every Sunday morning.

IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE- We looked at how Egyptian companies can identify and pitch foreign partners and how they can identify them. We asked how do companies figure out what they’re looking for — and whether that dovetails with what they want or need. We were joined on that panel by Hossam Abou Moussa, partner at PE firm Apis, Cheick-Oumar Sylla, director for North Africa and Horn of Africa at the International Finance Corporation, and Hassan Massoud, associate director and head of private equity (Southern Mediterranean) at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

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.

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.

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 “reporter development program” in your subject line.

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