Good morning, folks: We have a nice brisk issue for you this morning on one of the final hump days of 2023.

EGX WATCH- The EGX30 rebounds after four sessions in the red: The benchmark EGX30 rose 2.8% in trading yesterday to close at around 25.3k, snapping a four-day streak of declines that started last Tuesday.

CIB shares led the index down: EGX30 heavyweight CIB saw its shares fall over 9%, from EGP 83.50 last Monday to EGP 75.60 on Sunday, before rebounding during yesterday’s trading to EGP 77.10.

You can thank the gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates for the recovery. Expect the EGX30 to post further gains as domestic investors look to hedge against currency risk, Mubasher Capital Vice Chairman Ehab Rashad told Enterprise. The more the gap narrows, he added, the more attractive we’ll become to foreign portfolio investors. Rashad also pointed to recent positive signals from the IMF regarding our USD 3 bn loan program as boosting sentiment among traders.

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HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- It’s PMI day. S&P Global will publish Egypt’s PMI figures for November at around 7:15am CLT this morning. Saudi and Qatar gauges are also due out today.

#2- Cypriot president in Egypt: Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides is visiting Egypt and Jordan today to discuss an initiative to open a maritime corridor to dispatch humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to a presidential statement.

Remember: Christodoulides has been pushing the humanitarian corridor proposal for some time, but putting it into action is pending a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Reuters has the story.

#3- It’s day six of COP28 and we’ll be on the lookout for discussions on energy and industry + the Just Transition. Discussions will focus on how to achieve rapid decarbonization and a just energy transition across the wider spectrum of energy and industrial value chains. Key topics will include boosting the deployment of renewable energy, unlocking greater energy efficiency, innovation and action for hard-to-abate sectors including steel and aluminum, and the decarbonization of oil and gas supplies including methane abatement and carbon management tech.

#4- It’s the second day of the Egypt Defence Expo (EDEX), where some 35k defense and security professionals are attending the event at the Egypt International Exhibition Center in Cairo. The event runs through Thursday.

#5- Until next time WYF: The 2023 World Youth Forum wraps today.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

FX reserves: The central bank should be out with November’s foreign reserves figures this week.

HAPPENING NEXT WEEK-

#1- Election 2023: Voters will head to the polls on 10-12 December to cast their ballots in the presidential election. Voting for expats wrapped yesterday. First-round results are due on 18 December and a runoff, if necessary, will take place in early January.

#2- Inflation figures for November are due out on Sunday, 10 December.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- MORE OF THIS, PLEASE: Beltone wants to set up an SME lender: Beltone Financial Holding has applied to the Financial Regulatory Authority for initial approval to set up an SME-focused lender, it said in an EGX disclosure (pdf) yesterday. The firm would be set up with a EGP 250 mn in capital. SMEs remain locked out of the formal financial system. Few traditional lenders are truly interested in onboarding small businesses for payroll accounts, let alone in lending to them.

#2- AfDB is backing green financing in Egypt:The African Development Bank (AfDB) will bring its African Green Bank Initiative to Egypt this month, “empowering local banks with the technical capacity needed to attract climate finance from international and domestic investors,” it said in a press release. The bank will help set up green investment facilities in local financial institutions.

Part of a wider plan: The bank is expanding its initiative to Egypt, Benin, Ivory Coast, and Morocco after its success in Rwanda. It was launched last year during COP27 in an attempt to tackle the lack of climate finance on the continent.

#3- More green ammonia agreements incoming? The Sovereign Fund of Egypt will announce new partnerships on the green ammonia front during COP28, “be it through already existing green plants or greening existing ammonia plants,” CEO Ayman Soliman told CNBC Arabia. The fund will also ink framework agreements focused on green energy with over five consortiums in the coming period, he added, without providing details.

#4- Gov’t floods market with sugar to tame prices: The Supply Ministry has poured some 50k tons of sugar into the local market to be sold at EGP 27 per kilo in an effort to stabilize the market, where prices have soared to EGP 44 per kilo on the back of increasing demand, Youm7 wrote. The ministry has purchased around 150k tons of sugar from private-sector players at USD 750-780 per ton in an effort to help fill the supply gap that has pushed prices to EGP 50 per kilo last week and had the Supply Ministry consider introducing sugar price control .

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

For the first time in almost two months, the war in Gaza isn’t dominating the world’s attention: It’s a mixed picture on the global front pages, with Saudi oil policy, the war in Ukraine, mass shootings in America, and Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate all getting coverage.

The big business story: Spotify is laying off 17% of its workforce. (Reuters | Financial Times | Wall Street Journal)

HELP GAZA-

Want to support relief efforts in Gaza, but don’t know how? We’ve got you. More than 1 mn people in Gaza have been thrown from their homes and every human being there lacks access to food, water, and fuel amid the most intense bombardment any population has endured this century.

The folks at Talabat are processing donations for a range of Gaza relief appeals by charities including the Egyptian Food Bank and Misr El Kheir. Pay in EGP using your credit card.

Or check out our list of charities to which you can make direct donations via bank deposit and / or Fawry.

*** It’s Going Green day — your weekly briefing of all things green in Egypt: Enterprise’s green economy vertical focuses each Tuesday on the business of renewable energy and sustainable practices in Egypt, everything from solar and wind energy through to water, waste management, sustainable building practices and how you can make your business greener, whatever the sector.

In today’s issue: We took a look at how our planned network of green food centers is hoping to get food from farm to table with as minimal waste as possible.

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