Good morning, friends. We are wrapping up the first work week of November with another busy issue.

Big-ticket Gulf investments are the theme this morning with two > USD 1 bn investments coming to light over the past hours — Qatar’s Diar will invest USD c. 30 bn to develop a residential-touristic project in the North Coast and Saudi Dallah Albaraka has partnered with Emaar Misr to set up a USD 1.7 bn New Cairo project.

It’s not just the Gulf that has a big appetite for Egypt, we’ve also been seeing an increasing number of Chinese companies inking agreements to set up shop here or express interest in doing so, which made HSBC Egypt’s China Corridor Forum (pdf) more timely than ever. The forum brought together business leaders, policymakers, and financial exports to discuss ways to expand trade and investment flows between the two sides.

What went down? “The China-Egypt corridor continues to accelerate and gain momentum; we are seeing clients from both markets forming partnerships across sectors, reflecting the two countries’ shared commitment to deepening economic collaboration,” HSBC Egypt CEO Todd Wilcox said.

Introducing EnterpriseAM MENA <> India

The flow of capital, talent, and trade between MENA and the Indian subcontinent is one of the most important economic stories in the world. And we’re telling it the way only we can.

EnterpriseAM MENA <> India is our new briefing, published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to track the transactions, trends, and market moves connecting these two dynamic regions.

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The first edition lands this Monday. Subscribe by tapping here.

PSA-

WEATHER- It’s a pretty cool day in Cairo, with a high of 28°C and a low of 19°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s even cooler in Alexandria, with a high of 26°C and a low of 18°C.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- A total of 229 ships “returned” to the Suez Canal in October — marking the highest monthly rate of traffic since ships began diverting away from the strait in late 2023, according to a statement from the Suez Canal Authority. The canal recorded a 1.7% y-o-y rise in vessels passing to 4.4k ships — with a total of 185 mn tons — between July and October 2025.

Efforts are underway to increase that figure: Suez Canal Authority head Osama Rabie met with representatives from 20 shipping lines and agencies — including CMA CGM, Clarkson Company, Maersk, Hapag Lloyd, MSC and LBH — to discuss timelines for increasing traffic through the canal. He also called on them to carry out “trial voyages” through the canal.

CMA CGM’s already braving the route: The CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin — a vessel with roughly 18k TEU capacity — is seemingly bound for the Suez Canal, which would make it the largest containership to traverse the Red Sea waterway since early 2024. Large containerships have been slow to return to crossing the Bab El Mandab strait following targeted attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, with only 13 transits by six vessels with capacities between 15k TEU and 16k TEU crossing the strait in 9M 2025 — all operated by CMA CGM on Asia–Mediterranean routes.

REMEMBER- Suez Canal transit is projected to pick up in early 2026 — driven by the easing of regional tensions and a positive regional growth forecast from the IMF, Secretary General of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce’s International Transport and Logistics Division Amr Al Samdoni told EnterpriseAM last month. Shipping lines have been encouraged by the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement and are currently “developing quarterly plans” on the premise that the war and Houthi attacks cease completely, he added.

#2- Tax policy coming in March: The Finance Ministry aims to launch its medium-term tax strategy by March, Al Borsa reports, citing Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk. The ministry has been reviewing the tax policy document, which sets out guiding principles for modernizing the tax system, ahead of putting up for public consultation in 4Q 2025, a government source told EnterpriseAM in August.

Want a sneak peek into the policy? We dive into what we can expect from the long-awaited tax policy in a story published earlier this year — check it out here.

#3- The Central Bank of Egypt has instructed banks to maintain the original 3% and 8% interest rates on subsidized mortgage loans for applicants who had already reserved units under the government’s Housing for All Egyptians initiatives, according to a statement (pdf).

REMEMBER- The lender raised the interest rates offered under its two subsidized mortgage finance initiatives to 8% for low-income and 12% for middle-income borrowers last month, as part of a broader policy shift to align state-backed housing finance with current economic conditions.

Our coverage of the EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum 2025 continues. This year's forum was packed with actionable intelligence on the future of Egyptian business. To make sure you don't miss a thing, we launched the EnterpriseAM Forum Playback.

Every Thursday at 10am, you'll receive a special newsletter breaking down one key session — from the future of work to getting capital markets off life support. We’ll also drop a companion podcast in our EnterpriseAM Egypt feed so you can listen on the go.

Want more? We're soft launching our YouTube channel where we've dropped video highlights.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Egypt at COP30 Leaders Summit: Local Development Minister and acting Environment Minister Manal Awad is in Brazil for the COP30 Leaders Summit, which runs from 6-7 November, according to a statement. Awad will join heads of state, ministers, and global climate officials to discuss implementation, financing, and adaptation, and hold bilateral meetings with international partners.

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND-

#1- The RiseUp PropTech Summit will kick off tomorrow at the Cairo Business Park under this year’s theme of From Spaces to Solutions, according to a statement(pdf) from the organizers. The summit is expecting 3k attendees to take part in the event to hear from the 60 speakers scheduled to take to the stage throughout the day.

#2- The TechUp Women Summit returns once again on Saturday at the Greek Campus in Downtown. The event will bring together 3k women in tech to listen to more than 150 speakers and meet with representatives from over 80 tech companies from across Egypt, the region, and the globe.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

A battle in the courts over Trump tariffs is making the headlines this morning. Arguments in front of the US Supreme Court yesterday indicated a ruling that could represent a huge blow to Trump’s economic and foreign policy. A number of conservative judges joined liberals in questioning the legality of blanket tariffs — announced by Trump back in April at his “Liberation Day” event — as an overreach of executive power. (Washington Post | Reuters | Associated Press)

The challenges come at a fraught time for Republicans: Trump lashed out at Senate Republicans asking them to use a maneuver to end the longest-ever government shutdown. The 36-day spill is weighing down on the economy., forcing the government to cut flights at airports, and harming the party at high-profile elections, evident in local victories in New York, Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere that set the stage for huge Republican losses at midterm elections a year from now.

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