Chinese FDI accounted for almost 39% of the total greenfield investments in 2023of the 36 countries in which the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) operates, jumping up from 5.1% in 2022, the EBRD said in its latest Regional Economic Prospects report (pdf).

“China is dwarfing FDI from Germany and the US,” the EBRD’s chief economist Beata Javorick told the Financial Times. The world’s factory put forward more than twice as much investment last year than the US and Germany combined, who each accounted for less than 8% of total investment in the nations the bank works in.

The sudden splurge in investment may be more about circumventing US trade barriers than anything else: “China has tried to diversify production locations in terms of potential trade barriers,” Javorick told the salmon-colored paper. The Biden administration continued ramped-up trade tariffs on Chinese goods inherited from the previous administration and this week imposed additional tariffs on a further USD 18 bn worth of Chinese imports.

While China is looking to invest abroad to avoid tariffs, Russia is looking to China to avoid sanctions: China and Russia affirmed a “new era” of relations between the states during Russian premier Putin’s two-day visit to the nation over the weekend that will see Russia becoming ever-more reliant on the Asian nation. Putin seems to have secured a commitment to a closer economic relationship as Russian businesses increasingly look to China as imports of key production inputs from Europe and much of the rest of the world are cut off by sanctions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

MEANWHILE ON WALL STREET- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 40k for the first time in its 139-year history on Friday, amid optimism that the Fed will cut rates soon. (Reuters)

EGX30

26,143

+3.3% (YTD: +5.0%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 46.83

Sell 46.97

USD (CIB)

Buy 46.86

Sell 46.96

Interest rates (CBE)

27.25% deposit

28.25% lending

Tadawul

12,198

+0.8% (YTD: +1.9%)

ADX

9,042

+0.0% (YTD: -5.6%)

DFM

4,068

-0.4% (YTD: +0.2%)

S&P 500

5,303

+0.1% (YTD: +11.2%)

FTSE 100

8,420

-0.2% (YTD: +8.9%)

Euro Stoxx 50

5,064

-0.2% (YTD: +12.0%)

Brent crude

USD 83.98

+0.9%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.63

+5.3%

Gold

USD 2,414.40

+1.3%

BTC

USD 66,977

+0.1% (YTD: +58.4%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 3.3% at Thursday’s close on turnover of EGP 3.4 bn (29.4% below the 90-day average). Local investors were net sellers. The index is up 5.0% YTD.

In the green: Mopco (+14.6%), E-finance (+9.6%), and Elsewedy Electric (+8.9%).

In the red: Egypt Kuwait Holding -USD (-2.3%).

CORPORATE ACTIONS-

CI Capital will pay out a dividend of EGP 0.2169 per share on its 2023 earnings, it said in an EGX disclosure (pdf).

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