Good morning, wonderful people, and happy Sunday. We’re kicking off the week with a lot of econ news, between more devaluation speculations, Citibank cutting outlook on local USD bonds, and the CBE gearing up for its first meeting of the year. But before we dive into all that, we’ve got a very special announcement for you.

Today isn’t just any old Sunday, it's the launch day of EnterpriseAM KSA. Our newest addition to the Enterprise suite is written for decision makers in Saudi Arabia as well as executives, investors, and others doing business or deploying capital there. It will be published at 7am KSA, Sunday through Thursday. You can also check our newly launched EnterpriseAM UAE edition here.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Bond issuance on the HKEX?The Finance Ministry plans to list bonds on the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX) after the two sides agreed to sign an agreement regarding the matter, according to a Finance Ministry readout. The two sides also agreed to sign an agreement to eliminate dual taxation between Egypt and Hong Kong later this year.

CORRECTION ON 28 JANUARY 2024: We have amended the story to clarify that the Finance Ministry wants to issue bonds dominated in the local currency of Hong Kong and not the EGP.

#2- It’s business as usual at the local gold market: Gold shops have not halted operations or shut their doors over the weekend after soaring demand pushed prices to record highs, the gold division at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce said in a statement. Sales were only suspended for brief moments in some stores as people were processing the rapidly fluctuating buying and selling prices

Where prices are at: The price of 24 karat gold rose to an unprecedented EGP 4,400 per gram yesterday — up almost 17% from prices recorded during the last week of December. These prices are highly inflated and are “in no way representative of actual gold prices,” the division said in another statement seen by Enterprise.

Inflated prices everywhere: The Giza Chamber of Commerce’s electrical appliances division advised customers against purchasing any appliances at the moment, seeing as current prices are extremely inflated due to exchange rate instability, Al Mal reports.

#3- Red Sea disruptions hit our coffee supply: Several coffee suppliers have temporarily halted sales to supermarkets and retailers in efforts to preserve their stocks as Red Sea disruptions and the country’s FX crunch make it more difficult to import the usual quantities, according to Al Borsa.

Our friends at ALC Alieldean Weshahi & Partners have opened a joint-venture law office in Riyadh with leading Saudi firm Mithaq Law Office. The firm, known as Mithaq Law Firm in Association with ALC Alieldean Weshahi and Partners, will have a team of 20 multilingual professionals in Riyadh and plans to have a presence in other major business centers in the region, the firm said in a statement (pdf).

The Mithaq-ALC tie-up is a member of the Grimaldi Alliance, a global network with more than 500 lawyers in Italy, London, and New York, as well as 2k others in more than 70 jurisdictions.

The aim is to provide a one-stop shop for the needs of clients in Saudi Arabia and beyond, ALC Senior and Managing Partner Bahaa Alieldean told us in Riyadh last week at a reception for the launch. The gathering was attended by a who’s who of the Saudi business community, including senior executives and shareholders of major corporate groups and professional services firms. The event was hosted at Al Zarqaa Majlis.

Why a direct office now? “We have worked for more than a decade now with large Saudi conglomerates with units operating in industries including banking, real estate, infrastructure, and media, serving them on matters in Egypt and abroad,” said Alieldean. “Our goal is to serve the needs of the fast-growing Saudi market that sees both international investors flocking to the Kingdom and Saudi businesses committing more capital at home. The joint venture with Mithaq was a logical next step, giving us a direct presence in Riyadh and the ability together to serve clients by the joint venture’s pool of Saudi, Egyptian, and international lawyers.”

HAPPENING TODAY-

Egypt v Congo: The Pharaohs will face the DR Congo in Afcon’s round of 16 tonight at 10:00pm CLT. Egypt’s soccer officials sacrificed a cow and distributed the meat to the poor in Cairo in an attempt to bring the team better luck, team spokesman Mohamed Morad told Associated Press on Friday.

PSA- Brace for a windy week: We’re in for a chilly, windy couple of days, with all areas across the country expected to see declining temperatures until Wednesday, according to the Egyptian Meteorological Authority. Expect daytime highs ranging from 16-18℃ from today through Wednesday, and lows of 9-12℃.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

The Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee will hold its first meeting of the year on Thursday to review rates. We’ll be out with our customary pre-MPC poll later this week.

It’s also Fed week: The Federal Reserve kicks off its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. Economists are expecting the Fed to keep rates unchanged and wait until the summer before it cuts rates, according to a Reuters poll. Majority of economists polled see the Fed leaving rates at their current 22-year high at 5.25-5.5% when it meets later this week to ensure that “recent progress in inflation is sustainable.”

Setting the stage: The European Central Bank kept rates unchanged — at a record-high 4% — when it met on Thursday. The bank reaffirmed its position to keep rates high for a “sufficiently long duration” to bring inflation down to its target 2% from its current level of 2.9%.

CYBERSECURITY-

B.TECH denies data breach allegations: Consumer electronics retailer B.TECH “firmly denies all circulated allegations of a recent data breach,” the company said in a statement to Enterprise. The company reassured its customers that their data is secure and has not been compromised, following claims that its database has been hacked and thousands of customers' personal data has been leaked.

The allegation: A cybercriminal by the name Tanaka claims that B.TECH’s database has been breached and leaked on a hacking forum. The information leaked includes customers’ IDs, names, phone numbers, addresses, and emails.

Sound familiar?Last year saw reports alleging that two Egyptian blue chipcompanies were hacked by LockBit — the world’s most successful ransomware gang — compromising personal and financial data. The hacks suggest that LockBit has turned its sights on Egypt and other emerging markets — likely banking on companies here taking a less-sophisticated approach to cybersecurity.

One of those hits was on Fawry: We had a chat with Fawry CEO Ashraf Sabry, who explained to us the nitty gritty of what happened and the steps the company is taking to prevent this from happening again.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Ongoing disruptions to shipping in the Red Sea continue to dominate global headlines this morning on what’s shaping up to be the first business day of a very busy week for news.

The conflict in the Red Sea and the shipping disruptions to which it is giving rise look set to drive volatility in natural gas prices this year, the International Energy Agency warned on Friday in its most recent quarterly report. Also impacting price volatility: The war in Ukraine and potential delay to the start of operations at a number of natural gas plants.

ONE THING TO READ that puts it all in context:The risks of relying on superpowers toprotect global trade (the FT’s Big Read this morning)

** We have more on the story in the news well, below.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

#1- Lula is coming to town: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is coming to Cairo on 15-16 February to meet with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, the fellow Brics-member’s state-run news agency Agencia Brasil reported, without disclosing any details. Lula will then head off to the Ethiopian capital to attend an African Union assembly.

#2- Another financing agreement with the ITFC will be sealed in February: The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) will ink its annual work program — worth a combined USD 1.5 bn — with Egypt next month, according to a Planning Ministry statement. The statement did not provide any details on which areas the fresh funds will support.

AND- Funds for a high speed electric railway line will also get the sign-off next monthfrom the Islamic Development Bank, according to Planning Minister Hala El Said.

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

Tags: