Good afternoon, friends, and welcome to a new workweek. We’re looking forward to warmer weather as Eid inches closer. But in the meantime, we’re tracking the re-drafted Labor Act, how the petrochemicals industry will fuel industrial localization plans, and why we rage at digital inconveniences.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

The House has given the initial thumbs up to the entirety of the re-drafted Labor Act, with the bill’s final approval by the legislative body pencilled in for an upcoming session. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mahmoud Fawzi told the House that the Labor Ministry will work in tandem with MPs to revisit and amend some of the draft law’s provisions. The law introduces significant reforms across its 297 articles, aiming to balance the rights of workers and employers and ensure a framework that supports both job security and investment growth.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Political turmoil in Turkey is continuing to top many of the world’s digital front pages this afternoon, after a Turkish court jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu — and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival — with graft charges pending trial. Imamoglu has denied the charges, describing them as “unimaginable accusations and slanders,” while the streets have witnessed the country’s biggest protests in more than a decade. (Reuters | Bloomberg)

The move is expected to spark larger demonstrations despite a country-wide ban on all gatherings.Turkish stocks and the national currency are also understood to be in line for another tough week when they begin trading again tomorrow, after last week witnessed the country’s benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 fall 16.3% throughout the week after the opposition leader was arrested on Wednesday morning. The TRY also took a battering, at one point falling over 12% during trading before the central bank reportedly spent USD 12 bn to prop up the currency.

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

  • Foreign investors have significantly increased their purchases of government debt instruments, leading to a resurgence in hot money inflows following a slight blip at the beginning of the month that was driven by the maturity of one-year t-bills. Foreign holdings of public debt have returned to their pre-December levels, reaching approximately USD 38 bn.
  • Kuwait is looking to up its investments in Egypt to USD 5.3 bn by 20% this year, with plans to funnel a total of USD 10 bn into key sectors in Egypt in the coming years.
  • The government is planning to launch a retail bond market in 2025 as part of the government’s efforts to diversify its public debt instruments.

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*** It’s Inside Industry day — your weekly briefing of all things industrial in Egypt. Inside Industry focuses each Sunday on what it takes to turn Egypt into a manufacturing and export powerhouse, ranging from initial investment and planning to product distribution, through to land allocation to industrial processes, supply chain management, labor, automation and technology, inputs and exports, regulation and policy.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Temperatures in the capital are on an upswing, with the mercury set to rise to 26°C tomorrow, cooling to 14°C in the evening, according to our favorite weather app.

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