Good morning, friends. We have an absolutely packed issue for you this morning, so let’s jump right in.

UP FIRST- Electricity subsidies could be a thing of the past by the summer of 2029 — at least for the state budget. Government officials have spoken with us in recent days about a plan that will see businesses and consumers that use lots of electricity cross-subsidizing lower-tier users. It would be a fundamental change in the structure of the economy if they can deliver: You can draw a reasonably straight line between ruinous energy subsidies and the six-year half-life of the EGP.

We also sat down for coffee with our friend Mostafa Gad, head of investment banking at EFG Hermes, for a look at what we can expect heading into the back half of the year. And Ahmed Abou Hashima is in the news again with plans for a distant IPO and appetite to invest up to USD 300 bn in renewable energy.

MEANWHILE- The EGP continues to inch up against the greenback — and the Interior Ministry says it has arrested at least three prominent TikTokers for public morals violations.

^^ We have all of this and more below and in this morning’s news well.

HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- Voters in Egypt head to the polls today and tomorrow for Senate elections. Results will be announced on 12 August, with successful candidates elected to serve a legislative term from 2025 until 2030.

#2- It’s day two of a state visit to Egypt by Vietnam’s president. We have the rundown in this morning’s news well on what’s on the agenda — and why there’s lots to learn from our (still very tiny) relationship with Vietnam if you care about FDI and exports.

#3- It’s also day two of the Egyptians Abroad Conference at the Triumph Hotel in New Cairo. The two-day Foreign Affairs Ministry-organized event will act as a “national platform for direct dialogue and the exchange of ideas and proposals with Egyptians living abroad.

What went down during day one? New programs to offer online classes to Egyptians abroad who want to study the national curriculum and to expand an ins. program to cover all expats, not just folks with jobs, while raising the policy’s payout ceiling to EGP 250k

What’s all the fuss? We want more remittances. Egyptians living abroad are an increasingly important part of the country’s economy after the drying up of Suez Canal revenues, with remittances being up for 15 consecutive months. The float of the EGP did away with the parallel market that drove remittances through informal channels. Money sent from abroad is expected to have made up around 8% of the country’s entire GDP in 2024, up from 5% in 2023 and 6.1% in 2022.

#4- Edugate is mid-way through its annual fair at the Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski Hotel in New Cairo. The three-day event that ends tomorrow features universities from Egypt and across the world, in addition to scholarship providers, education financing companies, training institutes, and more.

WEATHER- Cairo is in for another sunny day, with a high of 35°C and a low of 25°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It's a little cooler in Alexandria, with a high of 32°C and a low of 24°C.

HAPPENING TOMORROW-

#1- National Printing will start trading on the EGX following its successful IPO. National will open at EGP 21.25 per share with a 10% stake listed on the exchange in a transaction that raised c. EGP 449.9 mn. Half of the offering was placed with a Saudi investor in a private placement, with the balance going to institutional and retail investors in Egypt.

ADVISORS- Our friends at EFG Hermes Investment Banking quarterbacked the offering as sole global coordinator, while Zulficar and Partners served as legal counsel.

#2- PMI incoming. The business community and policy makers will be hoping non-oil private sector activity breaks its four-month streak in the red, with S&P Global set to release its Purchasing Managers Index report for July early tomorrow morning. Our last reading saw the country’s headline figure drop to 48.8 in June from 49.5 in May, taking us further below the 50.0 mark that separates growth from contraction.

But not everyone is that confident about the road ahead, as “overall expectations for future activity were the lowest ever recorded in June, with the respective index having hovered close to all-time lows in 2025 so far,” S&P Global Senior Economist David Owen said. This “downbeat sentiment reflects subdued hopes for order books, as well as concerns that geopolitical risks could cause greater economic disruption,” he added.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT-

The government did not increase gas prices for industry at the start of the month, a government source told EnterpriseAM in response to reports in the domestic press over the weekend that sparked concern in the manufacturing sector. Factories haven’t received any official notifications regarding any increase, Chamber of Building Materials Industries head Ahmed Abdel Hamid confirmed to EnterpriseAM.

The question isn’t if gas prices will rise, the question is when. With the country increasingly relying on expensive LNG imports to help fill the gap between local demand and supply, the country’s energy import bill is cranking up — and someone’s got to foot the bill. It’s only a matter of time before the government tries to get the private sector to share more of this financial burden; however, the government is yet to make a decision on the matter and is closely watching disinflation progress, our export push, and the strengthening of the EGP against the USD before making any move, the government source told us.

In the third issue of our Destination Sahel series, we’re taking a look at how Sahel could become a year-round destination, the architecture underpinning new developments, and the impact of coastal cities on our shores.

Look for Destination Sahel, Issue III, in your inbox this Wednesday, 6 August.

Missed the first two issues? Tap or click here to read the full series.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Housing Ministry will launch the first batch of units for sale under the second phase of the Your Home in Egypt initiative in September of this year, according to a statement from the ministry. A second batch to secure housing under the initiative will follow in October, then a third one in November. The second phase of the initiative will include approximately 3k units — including residential, administrative, and commercial — across 19 projects in 12 cities.

REMEMBER- The first phase of the Your Home in Egypt initiative first went live in February of this year, providing Egyptians abroad the chance to purchase units priced 3-10% lower than market rates and offering payment plans extending up to 10 years. Transfers must be made in USD, and applicants are required to have a foreign bank account that has been active for at least six months.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

DATA POINT-

The Housing Ministry’s Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund has helped provide EGP 88 bn in mortgage financing to low and middle-income households, according to a statement from the fund, citing head May Abdel Hamid. The Housing for all Egyptians initiative has provided housing to 650k Egyptians, she added.

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Missed this week’s Inside Industry? In our weekly vertical exploring all things industry and manufacturing, we looked at how the Federation of the Egyptian Industries is urging the Finance Ministry to swiftly activate the first phase of the new EGP 30 bn initiative to support companies in priority industrial sectors. Check out the story here.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s a (very) calm morning in the international press, dominated by concerns over Trump’s erratic response to jobs data, and what comes next in the Gaza war.

Defending Trump: National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said the president’s firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner Erika McEntarfer is justified after the BLS made “extreme” downward revisions to job report data from May and June. Trump “wants his own people there” to make the data “more transparent and more reliable,” Hasset added.

Are revisions uncommon? US job data have been known to undergo revisions later, as some businesses do not file data before the reporting deadline, making the estimate more precise as time goes by.

OVER IN GAZA- The US and Israel appear to be shifting their approach towards an “all ornothing” agreement to end the war in Gaza, US envoy Steve Witkoff signaled in a meeting with families of Israeli captives on Friday. While Witkoff stopped short on providing more details, the shift could be motivated by mounting international pressure over the humanitarian situation in Gaza and calls for recognizing a Palestinian state.

Israel has been trying to secure a partial agreement for months, but Hamas insists on a comprehensive agreement that answers next-day questions, including governance in the enclave and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Arab states — along with the EU and 17 more countries — have called on the militant group last week to disarm and relinquish power to the Palestinian Authority “in the context of ending the war.”

*** It’s Blackboard day: We have our weekly look at the business of education in Egypt, from pre-K through the highest reaches of higher ed.

In today’s issue: We look at efforts by the Madbouly government to attract more investors to establish private technological universities.

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