Good morning, wonderful people, and happy THURSDAY. It’s another gentle day as far as the news cycle is concerned, easing us into the weekend. Whether you’re heading back to Sahel or staying in the city, we hope you catch some rest.

THE BIG STORY here at home is the news of another mega green hydrogen project in th e pipeline, this time from India’s Ocior Energy. Plus, cabinet greenlit draft laws on everything from a new digital property registration system to the sale of assets owned by public companies at its weekly meeting on Wednesday.

PLUS- GAFI’s new digital platform gets its first trial: A new company, Damietta Green Ammonia, was established virtually today through the General Authority for Freezones and Investments’ (GAFI) new digital platform, according to a cabinet statement. The new platform, which GAFI boss Hossam Heiba announced earlier this week, will provide investors with the services to establish companies, authenticate contracts at notary offices, and register using electronic signatures among other services.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Capmas and the central bank should release July’s inflation figures. Both headline and core inflation are expected to have hit new record highs in July on the back of soaring food prices, according to a Reuters poll. Capital Economics penciled inflation to rise to 36.7% in July, up from a record of 35.7% in June.

Higher food prices will drive the increase : Sugar prices are expected to be 24% higher in July than in the month before, Capital Economics’ James Swanston said. High food inflation will impact core inflation, with a median of four of the analysts expecting the core figure to hit a new record of 41.25%, up from June’s all-time high of 41%, the news outlet reports.

Closed-door sessions continue at the National Dialogue: The National Dialogue’s committees will hold two closed-door meetings today to discuss amendments to the personal status and guardianship laws that would give mothers greater rights in areas of custody, inheritance, and alimony.

Yesterday at the Dialogue: The Dialogue’s committees held private discussions to finalize their recommendations on economic issues including the state ownership policy that sets out the government’s privatization plans, how to boost FDI, and the state’s role in the provision of production inputs, pricing of crops, and agricultural credit facilities.

EGP WATCH-

Full freefloat of the EGP after presidential elections, predicts Jefferies: The EGP-USD exchange rate could be fully liberalized after the upcoming presidential election next April, said Alia Moubayed, managing director at investment bank Jefferies (watch, runtime: 2:32). Moving to a fully flexible exchange rate is a key condition of the IMF program, Moubayed noted.

More IMF money? The IMF will likely view progress made on ongoing reforms — including the devaluation of the EGP and the sale of bns worth of state-owned assets — in a positive light during its first and second reviews of our USD 3 bn loan program, Moubayed said. The reviews are widely expected to take place simultaneously in the fall. If the currency moves to a full freefloat following the presidential election, the Fund could consider increasing the overall value of the loan package next year, Moubayed said.

Moody’s review incoming: We’ll know more about the short-term economic outlook when we get the results of Moody’s review into potentially downgrading Egypt’s credit rating for the second time this year, Moubayed said. The three-month review should wrap this week.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

The latest in the US-China tech/trade war: US President Joe Biden signed an executive order yesterday aimed at limiting some US investment in “sensitive” Chinese tech. The move is aimed at making sure American resources aren’t inadvertently used to aid China’s military ambitions to the detriment of US national security. (Reuters | Bloomberg | the Financial Times | the Wall Street Journal)

AND- Erdogan wants to bring the Black Sea grain agreement back — but bigger and better: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he wants to revitalize the Black Sea grain agreement, seeking to turn it into a platform for peace between Russia and Ukraine. After a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Erdogan said the grain agreement could come back with an “expanded scope” and called on Western countries to make good on unspecified promises to Russia, Bloomberg reports.

Grain pact? Russia last month pulled out of the grain export pact with Ukraine. Brokered by Turkey and the UN in July 2022, the agreement had enabled Ukraine to resume its grain exports via the Black Sea after a blockade by Russia helped provoke a global food crisis. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has urged Putin to renew the pact.

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.

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.

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

LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST-

MISSED THE ENTERPRISE EXPORTS AND FDI FORUM? The EnterprisePodcast has you covered : The Enterprise Podcast’s forum series has been bringing you audio recordings of what was said on stage at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum,which took place in May. Throughout, we learned lessons from some of Egypt’s biggest exporters on how Egypt can export its way out of a crisis. We heard everything from how to build an exports and FDI strategy, to identifying a foreign partner and tapping into a global supply chain.

WANT TO LISTEN? Head to: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast | Anghami.

IT’S THE FINAL EPISODE- Our final panel of the day was, naturally, the most forward looking. Our panelists discussed how the companies — be they in age-old industries or emerging ones — have adapted to changes to better position their businesses for an uncertain future. We were joined by Nadia El Tawil, investment officer at pan-African private equity firm AfricInvest, Mostafa Bedair , CEO of Giza Seeds and Herbs, and Abdallah Sallam, CEO of Madinet Masr.

OUR FORUM SERIES CONTINUES NEXT SUNDAY WITH THE ENTERPRISE CLIMATE FORUM- Fresh off the heels of a successful COP27, we held our first forum to dive deep into the fundamentals of what we think is the world’s most important industry. The conversations ranged from exploring the business opportunities for Egyptian entrepreneurs, companies and startups in climate, to demystifying green hydrogen, and how we finance our green transition. And we did it all in the Grand Egyptian Museum.

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