IT’S TODAY- The Enterprise Finance Forum kicks off in just a few hours 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.

We’re starting the event at 8:00am with a standing networking breakfast, with the opening panels starting at 9:00am. Panel discussions will end at 1:20pm both days.

We are very grateful for the interest we’ve seen from many of you and are looking forward to meeting those attending.

** For those of you joining us, please remember to bring the personal QR code you received yesterday on both days to ensure access to the venue.

There will be plenty of parking available.

Tap or click here to view the FULL AGENDA with SPEAKERS.

** 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, FABMISR, HSBC, Mashreq, Banque du Caire, CI Capital, Global Corp, Visa, Hassan Allam Utilities, the IFC, and Post for Investment.

FACT CHECK- Uber isn’t charging us in FX and it hasn’t closed its bank accounts in Egypt. Uber said yesterday that a technical glitch led to customers in Egypt being charged additional fees and said that customers will continue to be charged in EGP. This came in response to a flood of reports that the ride-hailing giant had treated card payments as foreign-currency transactions, leading to banks charging additional fees. Rumors on social media alleged that the company had closed its bank accounts in Egypt.

We speak from experience: A number of us have been hit with foreign exchange fees on credit card transactions for rides taken right here in Omm El Donia that appear to have been invoiced from the firm’s Lagos office.

Remember: Most of us with local bank accounts are facing higher fees on foreign transactions — as well as lower monthly foreign transaction limits — amid the country’s ongoing FX crunch.

Compensation will be on the way: In the statement, the company pledged to refund to customers any additional fees charged on their rides “as soon as possible.” Masrawy and Al Mal have more.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

Has the IMF’s review been delayed (again) to 1Q 2024? Yasser Omar, deputy chair of the House Planning and Budget Committee, has denied giving comment to the media, which reported yesterday that the IMF’s anticipated review of our loan program could be delayed to 1Q 2024. “The initial review by IMF experts this month will not proceed due to the government’s delay in fulfilling some of the commitments it made with the IMF under the recent agreement,” Asharq Alawsat quoted the MP as saying.

Remember: An IMF team was expected to arrive in Egypt earlier this month to conduct the first review of the USD 3 bn program. The first of the review has been postponed since March after authorities didn’t meet several key conditions of the financing, including moving to a fully flexible exchange rate.

This isn’t the first we’ve heard of a delay: Earlier this month, Asharq Business quoted an unnamed government official as saying the review could be pushed until the end of the year.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

The Al Ezz Dekheila share buyback starts tomorrow: Steel maker Ezz Dekheila Steel will invite shareholders objecting to its delisting decision to sell their shares back to the company starting from tomorrow, 19 September, it said in a statement (pdf) yesterday. The company is offering to buy the shares at EGP 1,250 apiece, a 4% premium on the current share price. Shareholders have until next Monday, 25 September, to make a decision.

Remember: Al Ezz Dekheila announced plans in July to delist from the exchange in the wake of its agreement to buy back the government’s 31% stake in the company.

Conference season gets well underway this week, with several several events opening their doors in the capital and beyond:

Shoukry is in the Big Apple for the UN General Assembly: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is in New York this week to participate in the UN General Assembly kicking off on Tuesday. The foreign minister will meet his Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, Israeli media reported yesterday.

NEXT MONTH-

House to approve the fresh financial support after recess: The cabinet has sent the recently announced wage hikes, tax cuts and social support measures to the House of Representatives for deliberation and approval once MPs return from summer recess in October, the Finance Ministry said in a stateme nt yesterday.

The official cost: EGP 60 bn, according to the ministry, which gave a full breakdown of how much each measure would cost the treasury.

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-

There are two stories leading the conversation on the front pages of the Western press this morning:

#1- Ukraine: As Zelenskiy heads to New York for the UN General Assembly, the Ukrainian military is under pressure to make territorial gains as summer comes to a close. (Associated Press | Reuters | Wall Street Journal)

#2- Trump: The former president and favorite for the Republican nomination sat down for his first broadcast interview since leaving the White House to talk January 6, abortion, and more. (Associated Press | Reuters | New York Times | Washington Post)

ALSO- Grain ships are heading from the Ukraine to Egypt: Two cargo vessels of wheat arrived in the Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port on Sunday to collect some 20k tons of wheat bound for Egypt and Israel, Reuters reports, citing a post on Telegram by the Ukrainian agriculture ministry. These are the first food shipments to use an alternative trade corridor since Russia in July suspended the agreement with Kyiv to allow it to export grain via the Black Sea. The temporary “humanitarian corridor” reroutes Ukrainian exports via the western Black Sea coast near Romania and Bulgaria, to avoid the risk of Russian attacks on river ports.

It’s Fed week: Expect the Federal Reserve to leave rates unchanged when it meets for its policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. A higher-than-expected US inflation print in August now has raised the prospect of another 25-bps hike before the year is out, though for this meeting the consensus is that the central bank will sit tight and see what happens in September before making another move.

More than 25 bps? The majority of economists polled by the Financial Times expect the Fed to raise rates by at least 25 bps before calling time on tightening, with more than 40% forecasting another two or more hikes.

The market isn’t seeing it: Global equity funds saw their largest weekly inflows since mid-June last week, as investors bet that the Federal Reserve will bring its tightening to a close on the back of softening inflation data, writes Reuters. London Stock Exchange data shows global equity funds took in almost USD 10 bn last week as the prospect of steadier rates into 2024 boosted investors’ risk appetite.

But the sour mood in EM continued: Emerging-market equity funds saw net outflows of almost USD 2 bn last week, while investors pulled USD 795 mn from bond funds, the seventh consecutive week of outflows.

EGP WATCH-

Flexible exchange rate the only solution to red-hot inflation, says economist: Moving to a flexible exchange rate is the only solution to Egypt’s rising inflation, Aathira Prasad, director of macroeconomics at Nasser Saidi & Associates, told Bloomberg TV on Thursday (watch, runtime: 6:30). “Your food inflation is growing much faster than your overall headline numbers, so something has to change at least within this year to see some movement,” she said.

Remember: Inflation hit an all-time high in August for a third consecutive month, jumping to 37.4% from 36.5% the month before, largely on the back of ballooning food and beverage prices.

Devaluation is not enough: The three currency devaluations over the past 18 months have not yielded “any significant impact on export proceeds,” she said. “You haven’t seen an increase in remittances because most of the people are expecting another phase of devaluation. So people are kind of stuck and not really putting in resources.” That’s in addition to trouble with imports, “which are getting more and more expensive on the market,” she says.

Prasad’s advice is the latest in a string of growing calls for the move: The Institute of International Finance (IIF) last week published a note saying that a floating exchange rate is needed to alleviate pressure on the EGP and achieve macroeconomic stability. The IMF in April postponed its first review of our USD 3 bn loan program partially due to inadequate progress in moving to a flexible exchange rate. Neither the IMF or the government have confirmed whether Fund officials will be coming to Egypt this month, which is when the second review was scheduled to take place.

Futures hint that the EGP will break the 40 mark: EGP futures contracts moved even further away from the official rate, with 12-month non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) jumping to EGP 41.5 on Friday, according to As harq Busin ess. This suggests that the currency will fall a further 34.6% over the coming 12 months. CIB certificates of deposit trading on the London Stock Exchange price the EGP at 46 against the USD.

ICYMI-

Missed this week’s Inside Industry? In our weekly vertical exploring all things industry and manufacturing, we broke down the recently-announced incentives for industrial projects and what they mean for manufacturers.

CORRECTION- In yesterday’s edition of EnterpriseAM, we wrote that foreigners looking to acquire Egyptian citizenship by purchasing real estate now have the option to pay the USD 10k administrative fee in its EGP equivalent. In fact, foreigners previously had that option but must now pay the fee in USD. The story has been corrected on our websi te.

*** 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 break down this academic year’s tuition fees at the country’s major international and private K-12 schools.

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