Good afternoon, friends. Today is the day that we welcomed Act Financial to the EGX and we should be getting news any day now that the recently approved USD 820 mn tranche from the IMF has landed in state coffers. We’re nearing the end of an already busy week for local business, economic, finance news, but the week is not yet finished and the news cycle shows few signs of cooling.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Gov’t eyes USD 4 bn worth of hydropower projects: The Electricity Ministry plans to carry out USD 4 bn worth of hydroelectric power projects in collaboration with the private sector as part of its plan to diversify the country’s sources of electricity and transition to renewable energy, Al Arabiya reports, citing unnamed sources at the ministry. The government will reportedly seek out global hydropower companies and financiers to implement the projects.

A 2.4k MW pumped storage hydropower project is part of the game plan: Efforts are underway to kick off a 2.4k MW pumped storage hydropower project in Egypt’s mountainous Ataka region. The government had reportedly inked an MoU with a Chinese company over three years ago to implement the same project before it was pushed back due to financial and technical difficulties.

SOUND SMART: Pumped storage hydropower acts as a giant battery to store energy for the grid. It works by using surplus electricity to pump water uphill into a reservoir in periods of low demand or high supply, which is then released downhill through turbines to generate electricity when demand rises or supply falls. This way of storing energy means that energy networks relying on solar and wind power can keep the lights on even when the wind drops or the sun goes down.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is on the front page of every news outlet around the world, with the world’s business press pushing the major business stories of the day to second place. Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in an airstrike early on Wednesday morning in the Iranian capital Tehran, Hamas and Iran both said in statements that blamed Israel for the attack. The attack came hours after Israel said it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander in an airstrike on Beirut, raising fears of an escalation in regional hostilities. (Reuters | Financial Times | Guardian | Bloomberg | Associated Press | Washington Post | New York Times)

Iran vows to retaliate: Iran declared three days of national mourning, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatening Israel with a call to “avenge [Haniyeh’s] blood.” In the meantime, Hamas said in a statement that Haniyeh’s death would “take the battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions.”

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

  • We got word that the IMF’s recently approved USD 820 mn tranche should arrive in the “coming days,” Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said in a statement following the Fund concluding its third review of our USD 8 bn loan program that described the decision as a “vote of confidence” in the government’s economic policies.
  • Egypt’s non-oil trade deficit narrowed by 16% y-o-y to USD 15.9 bn in the first half of 2024, driven by a rise in exports and a dip in imports.
  • It was a busy Tuesday at the cabinet, with ministers approving a raft of decisions that included greenlighting the European Universities in Egypt (EUE) to host a branch of the University of East London and the reinstatement of the Investment and Foreign Trade Ministry
  • Fresh entries to the EGX30: Emaar Misr, B Investments, Credit Agricole, Cleopatra Hospitals Group, and Faisal Islamic Bank will join the EGX30 following the bourse’s semiannual review.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Mercury is peaking at a high of 38°C before simmering to a moderate low of 27°C by night, according to our favorite weather app. Sahel and Alexandria are seeing cooler weather, with a high of 33°C and a low of 25°C.

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