Happy hump day, ladies and gentlemen. The midweek news cycle is comfortably balanced, with enough to keep us interested — without quite opening the floodgates.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

PMI holds steady in August: Activity in Egypt’s non-oil private sector remained at a two-year high in August, showing a “mild” level of contraction, according to S&P Global’s purchasing managers’ index (pdf). The country’s PMI remained unchanged at 49.2 last month, keeping us “close to the 50.0 neutral threshold,” suggesting that business activity is stabilizing “after a prolonged period of contraction.”

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

China’s Country Garden just managing to avoid default is leading the conversation in the international business press. The company managed a USD 22.5 mn payout in coupons to international bondholders as they were about to pass their 30-day grace period. This comes as Country Garden was the last company left standing after several Chinese developers defaulted on their debt and undermined the ailing housing and financial markets. (Reuters | Bloomberg | Wall Street Journal | Financial Times)

HAPPENING TODAY-

It’s day two of the Africa Climate Summit: Climate leaders from across the continent are in the Kenyan capital for day two of the three-day Africa Climate Summit, which includes an Egyptian delegation headed by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad.

What you missed so far: “This meeting presents a great opportunity to discuss climate financing issues and Egypt’s vision regarding it, which focuses on looking into the climate financing tools currently available and the shift towards concessional financing,”Madbouly said during a speech earlier today. The PM also took part in a panel titled “New Global Climate Finance Architecture” and another under the title “Scaling up adaptation,” according to the summit’s agenda, while Fouad joined her counterparts in a panel under the title “Adaptation across the continent.”

Phase nine of the Beit El Watan initiative in progress: The Housing Ministry has opened the door for Egyptians living abroad to reserve some 2.53k plots of land up for grabs under the ninth phase of the Beit El Watan initiative, Housing Minister Assem El Gazzar said in a statement yesterday. The plots offered are distributed among 14 new cities including New Cairo, Sheikh Zayed, Tenth of Ramadan, and New Aswan. The reservation door closes in three weeks.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

  • Are we on track for the September IMF review? There are conflicting signals from government officials regarding the IMF’s anticipated review of our USD 3 bn loan program.
  • AfricInvest buys into BUE: Pan-African private equity firm AfricInvest is investing USD 40 mn(EGP 1.2 bn) in British University in Egypt (BUE) to boost the university’s growth plans.
  • Beltone to complete Cash takeover in 3, 2, 1… Beltone Financial Holding has inked a share purchase agreement to acquire 100% of Minya-based microfinance provider Cash after completing due diligence on the company.

COUNTDOWN- There are just 13 days until the Enterprise Finance Forum, taking place 18-19 September (Monday and Tuesday) at the St. Regis Hotel on the Nile Corniche. This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only events, where CEOs, bankers, investors, founders, and corporate leaders will meet to discuss the trends shaping the future of banking, finance, NBFIs, and fintech — and of their clients.

You won’t want to miss this one: Join Todd Wilcox (CEO and deputy chair, HSBC Egypt), Akef El Maghraby (vice chairman, Banque Misr), Tarek El Nahas (group head of international banking, Mashreq), Nivanne Mortagy (North Africa lead, upstream, financial institutions group, IFC), Mounir Nakhla (founder and CEO, MNT Halan), Leila Serhan (group country manager and senior VP for North Africa, Levant and Pakistan, Visa) and many others for talks on everything from investing in uncertain times, to the coming of AI and digital banks. Stay tuned for the unveiling of our full list of speakers in the coming days.

Tap or click here to REGISTER or view the FULL AGENDA.

We are honored to count some of the region’s most important financial institutions as our partners for this special event. The Enterprise Finance Forum could not take place without the support of our partners including Banque Misr, Al Baraka Bank, FAB Misr, HSBC, Mashreq, CI Capital, Global Corp, Visa, Hassan Allam Utilities, and the IFC.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The heatwave begins as the mercury rises to 41°C at its peak in the day and drops to a warm 27°C in the evening, according to our favorite weather app.

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