THIS EVENING: Edita is getting USD 45 mn from the IFC

Good afternoon, friends. Welcome to a new week, as well as a new month that may be bringing cooler weather, although the back-to-school traffic is also in full swing.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

IFC approves USD 45 mn loan to Edita: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has signed off on a USD 45 mn loan to EGX-listed snackmaker Edita Food Industries to support its working capital in Egypt and Morocco, fund fresh capex, and to help it settle up to USD 10 mn of its previous IFC loan, Edita said in a disclosure to the EGX. The loan will have a tenor of eight years, according to the statement.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Picking up where we left off this morning, the US Congress passing a short-term measure to avoid a shutdown is still leading the international business press this afternoon. The stop-gap measure ensures that the government is funded for another 45 days and avoids it coming to a standstill as it has already partially stopped four times in the past decade.(Reuters | Bloomberg | Associated Press | Wall Street Journal | Financial Times | Washington Post)

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

• ​​EGP for AED: The Egyptian and Emirati central banks reached a currency swap agreement on Thursday worth almost USD 1.4 bn.
• Global index provider FTSE Russell is adding Egypt to a watchlist for possible demotion in its suites of equity indexes amid reports of foreign investors having difficulties repatriating capital from the country.
• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has cut its Egypt growth forecast for 2024 by 0.7 percentage points to 4.5%.

*** It’s Inside Industry day — your weekly briefing of all things industrial in Egypt. Inside Industry focuses each Sunday on what it takes to turn Egypt into a manufacturing and export powerhouse, ranging from initial investment and planning to product distribution, through to land allocation to industrial processes, supply chain management, labor, automation and technology, inputs and exports, regulation and policy.

In today’s issue: In part two of our look at the local smartphone industry, we explore the market conditions, incentives, and trends propelling the industry forward and what remains to be done.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect a cloudy day with the mercury rising to a high of 29°C and cooling to 23°C in the evening, our favorite weather app tells us.