Good morning, friends. It’s finally the end of what has been a very busy week. The news flow shows no sign of slowing down as we wait for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to land in Egypt later today to meet with officials to talk Gaza.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Blinken is coming to Egypt: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be landing in Egypttoday after concluding a one-day trip to Saudi Arabia, where he met with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. This marks Blinken’s sixth trip to the region since the war on Gaza started.

On the agenda: Blinken is scheduled to meet with Egyptian leadership to discuss efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire agreement that secures the release of all remaining hostages, intensified international efforts to increase humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and coordination on post-conflict planning for Gaza.

PSA-

PSA #1-The Central Bank of Egypt will not hold its regularly scheduled policy meeting on Thursday, 28 March in light of its special meeting earlier this month when it hiked interest rates by 600 basis points in tandem with the float of the EGP, it said in a statement yesterday (pdf).

When will it meet next? The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday, 23 May next.

PSA #2- So, when do we eat? Maghrib prayers are at 6:07 pm in the capital city, and you’ll have until 4:29 am tomorrow to hydrate and caffeinate ahead of fajr.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1-Gov’t to decide on a consultant for the Ras Gamila project next week: The Madbouly government has set up a ministerial committee that will select a consultant to manage, evaluate and market Sharm El Sheikh’s Ras Gamila development project, a government source told Enterprise. The committee is expected to make its choice next week.

The price tag? The project is expected to have an initial sale value for the development rights of USD 2-3 bn, the source said, although the figure could go up depending on the consultant’s vision to maximize Ras Gamila’s value.

What’s next? The government will likely open the door to receive offers within two months, the source added.

Ras Gamila? Unconfirmed media reports said that Egyptian authorities have been in talks with Saudi officials regarding the development rights for Ras Gamila, though negotiations are said to be at “early stages and could fall through.” The Ras Gamila plot is “far smaller” than Ras El Hekma but could bring in USD bns.

Right across from Tiran: Ras Gamila is directly across the Strait of Tiran from Saudi’s Neom and not far from the site of a proposed bridge that would link Neom to Sinai.

#2- Fuel prices to increase soon? The government’s fuel pricing committee is set to meet within a week after a two-month hiatus to look into raising fuel prices, Al Arabiya Business reports, citing an unnamed government official.

It’s only a matter of time until fuel prices increase — in fact, it’s quite of a surprise it hasn’t happened yet in line with the float of the EGP over two weeks ago. Finance Minister Mohamed Maait earlier this month reassured us that the government’s allocation to fuel subsidies will remain unchanged until the end of the fiscal year even if fuel prices change.

DATA POINT-

Egypt remains a VC favorite: Despite a downturn in venture capital activity in Egypt last year, the country accounted for 11% of the USD 4.5 bn African countries received from ventures capitals in 2023, according to the African Private Capital Association’s 2023 Venture Capital in Africa Report (pdf).

In numbers: Local startups inked a mere 22 VC agreements in 2023, compared to 63 in 2022. Egypt accounted for more than two thirds of VC activity in North Africa between 2019 and 2023, the report added.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

The US Federal Reserve’s guidance that it is on track to deliver as many as three rate cuts this year is the big story in the global business press. We have the rundown in this morning’s Planet Finance, below.

Also worth knowing about:

  • Reddit has priced its IPO at the top of the range on which it had guided. Shares start trading this afternoon in New York. (Financial Times)
  • PE giant Apollo Global is offering USD 11 bn for Paramount Global’s film and TV studio, the owner of broadcast outlet CBS and producer of the Top Gun franchise. (Wall Street Journal)

And Tim Cook isn’t having a great morning: The Apple CEO is dealing with a report that theUS government could sue the company as soon as today for alleged antitrust violations. Meanwhile, rivals Meta, Microsoft, X, and Match have joined Epic Games in claiming that Apple isn’t playing ball with a court ruling on in-app payments.

FINALLY- Of Black Nazis and other AI faux pas: Semafor writes that Adobe AI model Firefly is as bad as Google’s Gemini was a couple of weeks back.

The misstep: “I asked Firefly to create images using similar prompts that got Gemini in trouble. It created Black soldiers fighting for Nazi Germany in World War II. In scenes depicting the Founding Fathers and the constitutional convention in 1787, Black men and women were inserted into roles. When I asked it to create a comic book character of an old white man, it drew one, but also gave me three others of a Black man, a Black woman and a white woman. And yes, it even drew me a picture of Black Vikings, just like Gemini.” Read more.

Tags: