Good afternoon, wonderful people, and welcome to a surprisingly quiet Monday. There’s no real big story at home to speak of so far, although we know that could easily change overnight.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Not much has changed since this morning, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans for the Palestinians in Rafah still making headlines. Netanyahu announced a “plan for action” to move Palestinians in Rafah out of the “areas of fighting” in the south towards the north to proceed with Israel’s offensive to “dismantle” Hamas. Over a mn civilians were pushed out of the north into Rafah by Israel’s attacks. Still, there is no word from Netanyahu on the status of a hostage swap, but Israeli media reported a breakthrough this past Friday during talks between representatives from the US, Egypt, and Qatar. (Bloomberg | New York Times)

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

  • The EGX30 fell 5.0% at the close of trading yesterday, after news of Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ’s planned USD 35 bn investment in Egypt for development rights to Ras El Hekma on the North Coast over the weekend.
  • Ras El Hekma agreement is “completely separate” from IMF discussions: “The [USD 35 bn] Emirati investment in Egypt is an important step, but it is not linked to the Fund’s discussions with Egypt,” according to the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia head Jihad Azour.
  • OECD gives us a bill of health and chimes in with its two cents on the way forward: Egypt needs to ramp up private sector activity, rationalize spending cuts, and maintain restrictive monetary policy to help boost economic growth, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its first economic survey of Egypt.

?️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect a mostly cloudy day with the mercury climbing to 22°C and dropping to a low of 13ºC, according to our favorite weather app.

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